M3boy

£100 plo rebuy at The Vic

2009-07-11T13:49:00.001-07:00

Full story here

£300 DTD comp report

2009-07-06T04:43:00.000-07:00

Hi

My report on the £300 deepstack comp at DTD this weekend is here

New blog!!

2009-06-22T02:22:00.001-07:00

Hi everyone, I have a new blog which is here

I will try and keep this one live for now and I will post links to my new blog posts as well. Please visit nwe blog and make comments.

I have a new post there waiting for you to read!!

DTD £60k 11th April - Day 2

2009-04-13T00:40:00.000-07:00

So being quite short I knew I had to get busy, but with 25+ BB's I decided to sit tight for a couple of orbits. I pick up KK on the SB and make a raise (after a few limpers) and take down the pot - I show the KK.
Next hand I play was again the SB and again I raised the limpers. Again it is folded and again I table KK.
With a rock like image now I took full advantage of this (which was a good thing as I went totally card dead!). I quickly got to almost 40k without showdown then I got moved tables.
For some reason I decided to make this play. I am BB and face a standard raise from the button. I didnt feel he had much and thought of repopping pre but flatted instead. My intentions were to check raise the flop if he made an obvious CBet. Flop was Q 2 5 and I checked. He made a CBet and I moved in with A 5. He tanked for a bit but then called and showed Q 7. I received no help and was down to 6.5k (almost 5xBB)
Next 3 hands I open shoved and received no callers so I had doubled up.
Then this hand occurs. I have 11k back and in the BB (for 1600). it is multi limped (5 I think) and I have 4 6. I thought about moving in but not too sure what UTG had limped with so decided to see the free flop. 2 4 6 all diamonds was the flop.
SB checks and I decide this was a good spot to push. folded round to the button who flat calls (he had 100k+ at the time). He tables 77 no diamonds and I trebble up.
Soon after with blinds 1k 2k, I raise the button with AK to 7500. SB folds and BB thinks for a while then shoves for 40k+.
Now I have a decision, with 25k back I could still play poker. Did I want to gamble here to double up? My decision was made a little easier as I had played with this guy most of yesterday and he knew I was capable of raising with any 2 and I knew he was capable of shoving with any 2 from the blinds. So a chance I might even be ahead here and I make the call. He tables 44. Flop was no good for me but the turn bought the Ace and the river bricked. So i am now on almost 80k! (15 minutes from being on 6.5k)
Table breaks soon after and with 40 odd left I find Sam Trickett to my right. This hand is my undoing. I am BB (for 2400) and it is folded round to Sam who completes from the SB. I have 8 6. flop comes 2 5 6. Sam bets 3k and I call.
J on the turn and Sam fires 6k. I re raise to 17k and Sam calls. River is a brick and with only 25k back Sam checks the river. I feel Sam will call the shove so I give up. He tables 10 6 and takes the pot.
With hindsight, I think I should shove the turn here, or at least move in on the river.
I manage to get back to 30k when I find AQ in the SB. 2 limpers and Sam makes it 8k from the button. I shove and receive two callers (Sam being one of them). Flop is 5 6 8, and first to act bets out 20k. Sam passes and the guy shows 77. So i have 6 outs for a 100k pot but get no help and I exit in 41st place.

Generally pleased with the way I played and only slight concerns over that SB BB hand with Sam.

So thats another DTD £60k comp without a cash. :(

Equal Chance £20k this weekend is my next venture.

DTD £60k 11th April

2009-04-13T00:25:00.000-07:00

My Fav comp in the UK by far but with lots going on this weekend, I thought the field may be a little smaller than usual. Well it was, but only just!! 290odd runners was still a VERY good turnout.

My starting tabe was a very good one, most people waiting for hands and only playing post flop when they connected and were unwilling to put alot of chips in with marginal hands. Within 3 orbits I was on 18k and only one showdown I think. From there I got that "stumbling block" feeling where I kept bouncing between 18k and 10k.

There was this one guy on our table, who reminded me why I do not drink any more. He was totally wasted, and as time went on he became more of a wanker! Abusing the dealers/valets, constantly swearing and generally being a pain in the arse. Now me being me , I couldnt let it go on. There was one hand where a guy had been re raised all in on the turn and had a big decision. This twat then pipes up (who wasnt in the hand and was at the other end of the table) with his usual shit "What you gonna do now?" "Been caught have ya?" etc...
"Leave it out m8, he has a decision. Respect other players, youre not even in the hand so be quiet!" I say. He then turns on me. I remain silent until the hand has finished. "Look m8, you were not in the hand and the guy had a decision, you should show a bit of etiquette and keep quiet"
"Did he hear me? Did he hear me?" was his reply.
"I dont care if he heard you or not, thats not the point. Just stop being an arse"
This quietened him down a bit but I could tell he was gunning for me. Then a hand occurred where I just knew he had nothing. I had raised preflop and he repopped me. I flat (with position). He fires the flop and I call. He then fires the turn and I re raise him. He re raises me quite big (over 50% of his stack)and I call quickly. Still convinced he had nothing. He bets really small on the river and I move in. He folds quickly muttering to himself that I got lucky. I tld him I couldnt even remember what I had and I was just outplaying him. He still remained quite quiet but couldnt help telling his mates what a clever cunt I was! lol

I finished the day with 24300 and 80 odd left..............

2 comps played

2009-03-30T04:32:00.000-07:00

Well I have played 2 more comps, the £100 f/o at Equal Chance and the £100 f/o at Luton (well I needed to defend my title! lol)

£100 f/o at Equal Chance - I do like this comp as I have said before and the venue is fantastic. I dominated my table from start to finish and looked like getting another good finish. It did help to double up on the first orbit with KK. I was the BB with KK and get the usual 8 limpers. I make it 700 and get two callers. Flop 33K (not a bad flop :)) I check, first guy bets 1500, second one calls so do i. Turn (cant remember) again I check and the first guy checks behind me, the second guy bets 3000 and I am trying to think how to get all his money and decide to flat call (the first guy folds) My plan was a small milky bet on the river, but I didnt need to worry as the guy shoves on the river out of turn. Happy days! He had A3.
As Ive said, I was in no trouble at all , increasing my stack all the way down to 12 when I get KK on the button. I had been VERY busy witht he button and make the same 4xBB raise. SB folds and BB moves all in for 80k (I have 88k) folds to me and I call. He has JJ. Flop Q 9 10 (Ugly) blank on the turn and 8 on the river sealed it for him. So down to 8.8k. Next hand LP makes it 5k to go and I move all in with 77. The BB folds and the origional raiser does not say anything, does not move anymore chips but turns his hand over and he has KK. Someone at the table says "What are you doing?" He replies "I call". "Your hand is dead my friend" he says. "I agree" i say. TD rules hand is dead. Ouch.
I shove the next hand with K 10 and get looked up by A9. No help and I exit in 12th.
The KK vs JJ would have given me a big chip lead going into final - Oh well.

The Luton £100 - With my title on the line (lol) I am looking foward to this one. I have a fast start and am soon on 15k at the first break. It got 89 runners this week! So a nice £3.1k for first. The next three levels are a waste of time with me yo-yo ing up to 23k and back to 15k at least 3 times, finally finishing the next 3 levels with the same 15k.
After the break was a different story and I get my stack upto 125k and make final table with good chips. I take out a couple of short stacks and we are soon 5 handed and I have 170k (chip leader) but with blinds at 8000 16000 it was anyone's game. I suggest a chop of £1500 each and play for £600. With no play left I think this is a good deal all round . £1500 being more than 3rd place money (£1300). One guy says play on. Fair enough so we play on. This made me determined to win. I know it was his choice to playon but I think it was a good deal at that time. I get dealt KK JJ and AA in one round! NO action with KK or JJ . but with AA I get looked up with A6. He gets there with 2 6's on the flop. Marvelous! Still leaves me with 140k. 2 rounds later and I am again Chip Leader. Soon there are 4 of us left, one very short and someone suggests a deal. This time I say "Lets play it out completely". When another falls again a deal is suggested "I want to play it out now" is my reply. Soon we are heads up and again I turn down a deal. £1700 for 2nd and £3100 for 1st.
I start heads up with 450k vs 280k. With blinds 10k 20k I find no hands and he is shoving like mad and it is soon almost evens when I find AA on the SB. I limp. He checks. Flop is 4 J 7. I bet 25k and he calls. Turn is a 2 and I bet out again 50k. He thinks of calling but instead announces "All in" I call and he has K4. No help on the river and I take it down again!
Woop! Woop!

Update at Last!!

2009-03-23T02:37:00.000-07:00

Well, only managed 4 tournies since the last update, The £300 at DTD, £20k guaranteed at EQ , £100 f/o at EQ and £100 f/o at Luton.

Firstly, the £300 at DTD : Just couldnt really get going in this one. Was up to 18k quite quickly but nothing went right, no major hands just lots of small pots lost. Eventually busted late in day 1 - only the 3rd time not making day 2 in this I think so very disapoiting tbh.
With the structure (best in UK by a mile for me) this comp is one of my regulars.

£20k guaranteed at Equal Chance : I have missed quite a few of these comps due to other committments, so I was eager to play this again. It has changed slightly as it is now 10k chips for £200, 10k more for another £100 and another 10k more for £50. So VERY deep stacked comp - just what I like.
Totally dominated my table day 1 and was sitting pretty on 85k with one level to go but had someone make (imo) a very bad call against me. I raised in late position and got called from the button. The board came K 10 2 two spades. I check call the guys bet. Turn is another low brick and again I check call. The river comes Q spades completing ALL the draws. Now I bet out a just under pot size bet and get snap called by 77. What was his thought process? I dont know, but I lost a chunk there and finished the day with 68k - still comfortable though.
So onto day 2 and I played like a complete nob from start to finish. My first big error came with JJ. Facing a 3xBB raise from EP I just flatted behind giving the BB the obligatory call as well. flop 773 BB checks, EP raiser makes it 8k and now re raise to 20k only to find the BB now re re raising me. PASS PASS - how badly to play that hand :( and yes the BB had a 7 - so that was 25k+ gone. My next mistake came when I raised again from MP to 3xBB and got a call from the BB. Check Check on an Ace high flop - just criminal! The BB then bets 6k on the turn - very week and I pick up an up n down str8 draw. I just flat behind - even worse!! But when the river bricked and it was checked to me, for some reason I checked behind and lost to 55 - so so so bad play by me and I exited soon after. Really disapointed with myself for day 2's play - was so bad it was untrue.
Next was a £100 f/o at Equal Chance - with only 38 runners, was never going to be a big prize pool but the place holds alot of appeal. No major trouble for me in this and I make FT with good chips. Unfortunately it got crapshooty very quickly and I end up busting 3rd for £500.
£100 f/o at Luton had 60 runners so a nice £2k first prize. Again no trouble accumulating chips in this but again with 2 tables left, the AV stack was 12 BB. This time I got lucky a few times (I also got unlucky though against smaller stacks when I had them dominated). Anyway, the final table (and indeed the whole tourney) was played in good spirits and with Alfie on the table, it was always going to be fun. He said he wanted to win, but I told him he would need to aim for 2nd so he wasnt disapointed lol. Well eventually we get heads up and he does indeed settle for 2nd.
So my first live win of the year - hopefully many more to come!

DTD £300 £50k Guaranteed - January

2009-01-09T03:26:00.000-08:00

Went to play this as I love the structure at DTD. Only 10k chips but VERY slow clock and I do well here (cashed 5 from 6 attempts including 3 final tables)

First time this comp has had a guarantee of £50k - which they smashed with 1st being £27k!!! (300+ runners! and they would of had more if they had enough dealers!)

Day one had a slowish start but got paid off from the two table donks - was just waiting to catch them (you know the ones, overbet pre and post flop and cannot let go of a hand ;) ). Things progressed well (staying above average) until table break - this happened quite late on in day one which was real bad timing. Also the table I was moved to had HUGE stacks on it and I did not know any of the players.

I did manage to donk off 6k to Pete Linton - doh :( Then saw him get his 45k+ stack all in against 3 others!! He held QJ and was slightly blessed to be up against AK A10 and K9. With a Q hitting the flop saw him move into the chip lead of 120k for the end of day one!

So, back to my late table move. I have just below average and find AQ suited in the c/o. I make a standard raise (my first at the table having only played two hands previous - both folded), Immediately the guy on the button announces "all in". I would only have 5xBB if I call and loose and with 20+BB still left after my raise I reluctantly folded. Not knowing anything about the player was my main consideration.

So made day two and with 80 players coming back it was going to be a long day!

Most people were a little cagy on my table so I took full advantage and collected alot of blinds and ante's. About 10 from the bubble I lost a crucial race against a shorty which then left me too short to be able to "play" poker. I survived until the bubble where I found myself moving all in blind UTG with 7xBB. Fortunately two others went out on another table before our hand was dealt so I had cashed again - allbeit only for £450. So after the table changes I am UTG and move all in (seeing an ace) I get called by the guy who I folded AQs to earlier - he had A 10 and I held A 5 - No help for me and I was out.

Incidently with 40 left, me and that guy had similar chip stacks - difference is, when he called my all in he had 300k+ - some people are just blessed with cards and situations at the right time. He had AA KK QQ and AK all in one level and got paid on each!

The final table was a bit of a shambles really - with some sort of deal done 5 ways meaning the winner only took £15k - Seems a real scared deal to me to give away £12k but each to their own!

Next stop is the £300 2 dayer at Luton this weekend. Hopefully it is 10k chips with a decent structure. DTD'd structure would be great but I wont hold my breath. 25 50, 50 100, 75 150, 100 200, 100 200 with 25 ante etc.......

We will see........

Why does Brighton hate me so much?!?

2008-11-28T14:18:00.000-08:00

Firstly , apologies for not updating the DTD story - needless to say I have forgotten what I wanted to say so I will skip over it.

So onto Brighton.

Went for their £150 + £150 deepstack event - basically a £300 f/o with 15k chips. All started well until I got called when making a move for a big pot. I felt he made a bad call with his holding (A rag) on an A high flop but maybe he had a read on me? I dont know. Anyway, that left me with little play left and I struggled for the whole day - I did get lucky late in day 1 with 88 vs QQ where I rivered a flush.

So back to day 2 with 13 left and I had 38k (again in danger zone) with the blinds 1600 3200 and running ante of 300.

With 9 getting paid I felt it would be a long drawn out affair to get to the final table, but it wasnt. It took only 40 minutes. I was the last to go (yes Bubble again). I am in the BB with 77 and 28k behind. Folded to the SB who makes it 15k. Now I know he cannot fold to my shove but I felt this was my time to take a shot at a double up. Feeling I was racing against 2 overs I was more than happy to see him flip A 7. So with 3 outs we head to the flop, which duly bought an Ace and I was out.

The drive home was a nitemare and took me over 4 hours! (Most of which was spent on the M25 doing no more than 5 miles an hour) and all this on my birthday. Nice birthday!

Anyway, it got me thinking about the other comps I have played at Brighton (ranginf from £300 to £500 comps). It seems Brighton does not like me, having bubbled today, I remembered the last comp I played where I also bubbled. And the comp before that I had AA vs KK (being in the top 3 in chips with circa 20 left) and got all in against chip leader with KK. Pot was massive and needless to say he hit not one, but TWO kings on the flop!

Maybe I should steer clear of Brighton? lol

Next stop is the £250 + £250 at Luton next week - again a 15k deepstack event.

Second Chance £100,000 Poker Classic

2008-10-30T11:16:00.000-07:00

Am hoping to go and play this on Saturday - that is if I can register intime. If not, it will be the £300 DTD event.

See ya there!

First online Poker for a while

2008-10-26T18:09:00.000-07:00

Decided to delve into the world of online poker again tonight, first time in ages.

Fired up a cash tab on Poker Trillion and made $400 in an hour. Then decided to play the GUKPT sat on BlSq.

Ship the seat!!!

See ya in Blackpool!!

:)

First Poker since Killarney

2008-10-25T15:53:00.000-07:00

Wel with moving house 2 weeks ago, I have had no time for poker - i do miss it, but I am enjoying the many projects I have to do on the new house.

Anyway, last night, I decided to take a break from the house and visit Luton G to play in their £250 2 dayer event.

Slightly disapointing 41 runners, but as I have said, my first Poker for over 2 weeks and I was very eager. I started of well and continued until the last level of the evening. I was on just over 30k - very comfortable to return for day 2, but I then lost 10k in one pot and finally managed to hang on and finished with a measly 16.4k.

9 returned for day 2 and it was already agreed to take £100 of top 5 and pay 8th and 9th £250. I was very low, but not the lowest! lol Blinds were 1k 2K so I needed an early double. 3 hands in and in 2nd position I find AJ - in it goes but I am not liking the re raise all in behind me. Sure enough he flips Kings, so drawing to an ace the flop produces a Jack, then the magical Jack on the turn sees me double up. I never looked back from then and was chip leader with 5 left. I remained so until heads up. We were dead level on just over 200k each and with blinds 8k 16k we both decided to lock up £2.5k and play for the last £300. This went on for 3 whole 45 minute levels when I raise with 10 10 and get re raised, I push and got the obligatory call with K4. Blank flop and turn but a K on the river sealed the deal. In the end, the guy only got £50 more than me as he had already agreed to pay out £125 to two of his mates if he won. lol

Pleased with my performance overall and very happy to bag another £2.5k

Profit on live tourneys this year is looking very healthy indeed :)

Off to Killarney for the €500 Euro comp on Friday

2008-10-01T11:00:00.000-07:00

Well, its all booked and Im really looking foward to this.

I will be going full of confidence seeing as my last 2 live events have netted a 3rd and a 2nd (£300 at DTD and £250 at Circus)

There is a live update here if you wish to follow (and I believe you can also make comments) - would be good to have a few railers

Live Update

£250 Circus event in Luton

2008-09-27T02:57:00.001-07:00

Going to play this one tonight. It is a 2 day jobbie with 15k chips and a 40 min clock with £5k guaranteed for the winner. Luton G had a similar comp on Friday/Sat but sadly only 39 runners.

Wonder how many this comp will get? With the Guarantee they need 50 to break even. Will the guarantee mean an improvement on Luton G's numbers?

We shall see.

Paid in today!!

2008-09-15T16:03:00.000-07:00

Well im now registered for the Irish Poker Fessie in Killarney, so just the travle and accomodation to sort.

Should be a cracking weekend!!

Ladbrokes Irish Poker Festival, Killarney 2008

2008-09-09T09:54:00.000-07:00

I am thinking of going to this event (Full details below)

If anyone wants to tag along (or if you are going already) I am interested in room share to save on costs - please email me

Cheers

Ladbrokes are proud sponsors of the Irish Poker Festival - Killarney 2008 which includes the €250,000 guaranteed Main Event. The 3 day Festival will be held between the 2nd to the 5th of October 2008, at the Irish National Events centre in Killarney, Co Kerry, Ireland.

Festival Poker Schedule: Thursday 2nd October (19:30 start)

Main Event Super Satellite (20 tickets guaranteed)
€50 + €10 – Re-buy Event

Friday 3rd October (16:00 start)

Main Event – 3 Days
€500 + €50 Freezeout, €250,000 guaranteed prize pool. 15,000 chips, 1 hour clock.

Saturday 4th October (16:00 start)

2 Day Event
€270 + €30 Freezeout
€60,000 Est Prizepool
10,000 chips, 40 minute clock

Sunday 5th October (15:00 start)

1 Day Event
€150 + €20 Freezeout
€25,000 Est Prizepool
8,000 chips, 30 minute clock

What is it with 3rd being a stumbling block?

2008-09-09T01:24:00.000-07:00

This weekend saw another choice for me - I usually play the Western's £250 + £100 2 day comp. 10k chips with an "optional" 10k rebuy/add on. This comp always clashes with DTD's 321 £300 2 day comp.
Having given it some thought (and the fact that the western increased the buy in to £300 + £100) I decided to travel to DTD. Both comps are £20k guarantee's. So i log onto DTD poker, buy in online and set off for Nottingham.
The comp itself has a lovely structure - 45 minute levels starting at 25 50 with the ante's kicking in at 100 200. 10k chips to start.
The draw is made and I am on the same table as TK - even sitting next to him.
I make good progress and am soon on 18k but a few lost pots later I find myself down to 7k ish - but with the structure I was still not in any trouble. I managed to hit a set of 7's against someone holding AA who could not release on the low flop putting me above 15k again. I increased my stack to almost 30k - even running into TK holding Aces twice and him flopping the nut flush who checked to the river - when the board paired and i fired out a bet - he called.
Late into day 1 I get involved in a hand with Richard Berridge - it was a SB BB confrontation, I was the BB. He made a standard raise from the SB and I decided to see a flop with K 8 hearts. The flop came J 5 7 with two hearts. He bet out 3k (as I expect him to) and I decide to take another card. It comes a non heart 6 and he checks to me. I try and take the pot here and fire out 7k - I overbet this only leaving myself with 16k - Richard immediately comes over the top and sets me all in.
Decision time - with overbetting the turn I had only left myself 16k but with a chance of winning the pot (over 50k) I felt my draw and the pot was too good a chance to pass up and make the call.
Richard turns over AJ for TPTK but the river comes a heart and I now have over 50k and am probably close to chip lead.
I finish the day with 46k sitting 9th from 30 odd.
2nd day sees me yoyo somewhat, but not making much progress and then the dreaded bubble comes - this was after 4 complete levels of 16 players left!!
The bubble is where I have exited alot of comps - maybe I tend to become too aggressive but I continued to put people to the test - getting all in plenty of times only to be looked up 3 or 4 times - on all occasions I find myself dominated (QJ vs AJ and Q7 vs AQ etc) everytime I hit. The bubble finally burst and I find myself winning a huge pot with KQsuited. This chinese guy (good player) had been using position very well and had raised my BB several times. On this occasion I decided to make a stand with KQ diamonds and shove over the top of him for 80k!! To my horror he called and showed AJ - I hit a K to take him out and see me make the final table with 140k (3rd I believe)
Again I went for the win - getting lucky a few times but we all need to get lucky dont we?
Soon it is 3 handed so £4.5k locked up but I wanted the £11k first place - it was not to be and finally went out holding 99 vs AK. It was my BB and he raised to 50k (blinds were 8k 16k) I had 170k. I thought about flat calling and shoving on a non AK board but took the all in approach - he called and hit a K on the turn.

So back to the title, I cannot seem to break the 3rd mark in bigger comps - but I will continue and feel that the big win is just around the corner.

Fantastic structure at DTD.

Moving on .........

2008-08-19T17:38:00.000-07:00

Well I am continuing to grind away playing online cash - omaha mainly now.

I was always interested in this form of poker and enjoy the cash games online again. It is such an interesting game. I am even now at the point where I find NLH cash games booring.

Online MTT's continue to be a success for me albeit at low levels.

Live MTT's are also continuing to be a series of "near misses" atm. Final Table at The Western £20k event - only to trap a guy lovely for him to hit his 6 outer after the flop, but thats Poker. 7th was my finish there.

The DTD £500 deepstack this weekend I am going to have to miss as I cannot play on the Sunday. Such a shame as I was really looking foward to this one.

Nest on the Horizon in the live scene is next weeks APAT series of events in The Vic. I will be playing the Omaha, The Razz and The Main Event - The Stud event I have to miss because of prior engagements.

Be Lucky!

The Blonde Forum Saga - warning VERY LONG POST!

2008-07-22T18:21:00.000-07:00

Ok, so where do I start? Well I will start by saying I am banned (for life I am led to believe) and so is my wife Charmaine (more on her stroy later)

There are alot of rumours and speculation going on at the moment so I thought I would set the record straight.

It all stems back to the ipoker thread I started where I questioned the integrety of the software (The thread is I believe still on the blonde poker forum) - I was given a hard time by certain people - understandable to a certain extent I suppose seeing as Blonde's own cardroom runs on ipoker. But the fact remained that the ipoker has a flaw in it. The client software does not check with the server software to validate what you see on your screen is infact what the server is sending. This to me is a great security threat. Ipoker finally admitted there was a problem and that it would be fixed in a time scale of 2 weeks. 2 weeks came and went so I posted to ask when the update was going to be released, I was fobbed off by ipoker so i posted my feelings on what I thought would happen, basically nothing, they would forget about it and sweep it under the carpet. Dont get me wrong , the thread became heated on many occasions, too many to post here but like i said, it is still available to read on the forum - although the thread is now locked. There were also various pm's on the subject, some heated. One I remember was from Kev which said something along the lines of "if you dont like it here, then fuck off and make sure the door hits your arse on the way out!"

In my mind, this put certain people "on the back foot" with me as it were - I can understand why but imo it was not necessary. This is where the problems started.

About a week ago I posted on the staking board that I was looking for a few horses to stake on 25c 50c level. I also decided to back a few horses in the $10k on Trillion. Blonde had certain rules about staking/asking for staking - these rules were on the forum. It was pointed out to me by a post on the thread that I had not followed the rules and unless I did, my post would be deleted. I had forgot to put the start time of the comp and also I did not mention it was on Trillion. I ammended the post. Tactics were then switched by saying that I could not stake someone who had less than 300 posts (one of the rules) - the rule said "You may offer to stake players, or ask for staking, but only if you have a minimum of 300 forum posts" - Now i read this as meaning you could not post asking to be staked if you had less than 300 posts and as I had started the thread, I could stake anyone I wanted to. Well there was an argument that ensued over this point - it was not heated at all. Some others agreed with me and posted to say so, others disagreed. It was clear these rules were not clear and indeed they have now been rewritten. This thread has also been deleted so you cannot make up your own mind by reading the contents. Then they changed tactic again by implying that I was forcing people that I staked to sign up to Trillion through my affiliate link which was not true - indeed two of the people I staked already had Trillion accounts (probably downloaded through Blondes own affiliate link). This was a cheap shot at me, the 3rd attempt imo to make me angry and I posted that I thought they were out of order and just using it as an excuse to wind me up. Other people also commented on the thread that they thought the certain memebr was being very picky, one member even went as far as to hint that it was just a personal attack on me. Anyway, I was banned! No email, no warning, no reason. I am led to believe that it is a permanent ban although with no contact from Blonde this is not 100%. It pissed me off a little, not that I had been banned (because I knew certain people did not want me on the forum) but the way in which it was done.

Now my wife also had an account on Blonde, so she posted her thoughts about the subject - again it has been deleted so you cannot read it yourself but it said something like "I fell the treatment of Paul was very unfair, he has a strong opinion and voices it. It seems his opinion does not agree with certain members of Blonde so he was banned. So you can have an opinion, you can post your opinion on the forum, but be warned, if it disagrees with certain members, your post will be removed and you may get banned. I fully expect to be banned for this post which will proove my point"

Well she was right, she was immediately banned and her ban is indeed for life, she had an email confirming this today. My wife has done alot for the forum, posting birthday threads etc.... she even won a blonde award at one of the blonde bashes. She is one of the kindest people you could meet who is not nasty to anyone.

Now banning me as I have said only annoyed me off because of the way it was done, ie no email nothing, and not even for a valid reason imo, but the banning of my wife really pissed me off - that post (which as I have said has been deleted) was one of the only posts I can remember where she voiced her opinion - and for that she was banned.

Now for my part, where I did overstep the mark slightly but I was so angry at the banning of my wife. All of the stories above where I refer to "certain members" well mainly it refers to Kev (If you go on Blonde you will know who I mean). Below is an msn conversation i had with Kev the night of the banning of my wife (warning foul language)::

M3Boy says (00:24):
ban my wife???
M3Boy says (00:24):
wtf for?
M3Boy says (00:24):
for expressing her opinion????????
M3Boy says (00:25):
ban me yes, i dont give a shit, but to ban her???????
M3Boy says (00:25):
all she has done for blonde?
M3Boy says (00:25):
u kow there will be an uproar about this
M3Boy says (00:25):
are you going to ban every member that sticks up for her?
M3Boy says (00:25):
you will have none left!!!!!!!!
Kev says (00:26):
Paul ... just give it up will you,
M3Boy says (00:26):
no i wont
M3Boy says (00:27):
you banned her for what?
Kev says (00:27):
I didnt ban her for your information, but thats irrelevant
M3Boy says (00:27):
its not fuckin irrelevent
M3Boy says (00:27):
trust me!
Kev says (00:27):
you want to make out its me thats doing all this ... fine , think what you like
M3Boy says (00:27):
pick on her is an insult to me ffs
M3Boy says (00:27):
well whoever it was
M3Boy says (00:27):
pass the message on
M3Boy says (00:27):
i know im banned for life
Kev says (00:28):
pass what message on ?
M3Boy says (00:28):
its what some wanted, I can live with that
M3Boy says (00:28):
but to pick on my wife, now uve made it personal
M3Boy says (00:28):
by you i mean the royal you
M3Boy says (00:28):
funny how people know im banned for life before me
M3Boy says (00:29):
she expressed her opinion and you banne dher
M3Boy says (00:29):
thats a fuckin joke! and u know it
Kev says (00:29):
I think you will find that you have been banned for 72 hours as per the email that was sent out ...
M3Boy says (00:29):
i never got an email ffs
M3Boy says (00:30):
i have had 5 people tell me i am banned for life
M3Boy says (00:30):
who deleted the thread also? they show nothing that warrant a ban ino
M3Boy says (00:31):
leave the threads up and let people decide
Kev says (00:31):
well all i know is that you have been banned for 72 hours as per the email ... during that 72 hours the team will decide on the length of suspension or ban
M3Boy says (00:31):
its already decided ffs im not stupid!
Kev says (00:31):
and no, enough is enough, i wont talk about this to you any more Paul, what is the point
M3Boy says (00:31):
no we will talk
M3Boy says (00:32):
at the blonde bash
M3Boy says (00:32):
you can count on it!
M3Boy says (00:32):
im fuckin pissed off!!!!
Kev says (00:32):
is that a threat ?
M3Boy says (00:32):
what fuckin threat?
M3Boy says (00:32):
dont twist my words
M3Boy says (00:32):
im not in the fuckin mood!
Kev says (00:32):
i asked ... is that a threat ... its a question
M3Boy says (00:33):
read what i said! I said we WILL talk
M3Boy says (00:33):
ban me fine i dont give a shit never have never will
M3Boy says (00:33):
but ban my wife?? fss
M3Boy says (00:33):
ffs
Kev says (00:33):
i have nothing to say to you about the banning Paul ... thats a collective decision
M3Boy says (00:33):
bollox is it
M3Boy says (00:34):
so u had a collective meeting tonight did you?
M3Boy says (00:34):
to ban my wife?
Kev says (00:34):
if we meet up anywhere, i will gladly have a beer with you as always, but i wont ever discuss a decision that has been taken by a team of people
M3Boy says (00:35):
cop out
M3Boy says (00:35):
leave the fuckin thread up. or at least her last post
M3Boy says (00:35):
so people can see what she wrote and was banned for
M3Boy says (00:35):
then let people decide
M3Boy says (00:35):
but u wont cos u know ur in the wrong
M3Boy says (00:36):
u expect people to forget about banning me? ur probably right there
M3Boy says (00:36):
but do you really expect people to forget about banning Charmaine?
Kev says (00:36):
ok ... no point carrying on this convo, you are obviously wound up and we arent going to get anywhere ... plus I am knackered and need to go to bed
M3Boy says (00:36):
PLEASE!!!!
Kev says (00:37):
goodnight
M3Boy says (00:37):
you have done more harm than you could possibly imagine banning her
M3Boy says (00:37):
fuck you to
Kev says (00:37):
cheers !

The conversation then continues some minutes later :

Kev M3Boy Paul
M3Boy Kev what?
Kev M3Boy Charmaines account has been suspended for 24 hours, it gives the mods some time to get together tomorrow when more are on to discuss it
M3Boy Kev and?
Kev M3Boy just passing on the information is all
M3Boy Kev why are you telling me this?
Kev M3Boy so you know what is going on ... jesus, thats what you asked me isnt it ?
M3Boy Kev no
M3Boy Kev i didnt ask you anything
M3Boy Kev i dont give a fuck tbh
Kev M3Boy M3Boy says: ban my wife??? M3Boy says: wtf for? M3Boy says: for expressing her opinion????????
M3Boy Kev you have abnne dher for having an opinion
Kev M3Boy you did ask me ... i have now answered
M3Boy Kev thats all i need know
Kev M3Boy ok ... im off to bed. see ya

I have since apologised to Kev for the way I spoke and wish I had worded things differently, although I still stand by what i was saying.

M3Boy Kev just for the record Kev, the way I spoke to you the other night was out of order and I wish I had spoken differently but its done now. I still stand by what I said, just wish I worded it a little (well alot) better

So why am I putting this up here? Well there are I am told some threads on blonde forum at the moment that I would like to comment on, but obviously being banned, I cannot. So those threads only have one side of the story to them - no, the threads do not name names but it is clear who the threads are about.

The whole situation got way out of hand and I genuinely believe that I was not wanted on the forum since the ipoker thread and that if I was not banned for this, then it would be for something else in the not so distant future - fair enough doesnt bother me tbh.

It was the banning of my wife Charmaine that really got to me and yes I did loose it (as you can see above) I could of doctored that conversation, but I want people to know the whole story so they can then make up their own minds.

Just want to add that I in no way think I am an innocent party, far from it - something had to be done by Blonde as situations between me and some members was deteriorating very quickly, but the actions they took was over the top imo. At the end of the day it is their forum and they can act how they feel. At the end of the day, I have to respect their decision.

Do I regret the whole situation? Of course, but whats done is done - time to move on. I am sure I will bump into many people from the forum around the poker tournaments.

If anyone has anything to add or comment on please feel free. I will only delete posts that are untrue.

My Website is updated at last!

2008-05-23T02:07:00.000-07:00

Check it out
here

Im no website designer, but hopefully I have also ironed out a few of the bugs that it contained - it can now be viewed properly in firefox.

Poker update........

2008-05-23T01:34:00.000-07:00

Live poker has been a bit of a washout lately, have not played much since the £300 at Equal Chance. I am hoping to play the omaha and main event at the Gutshot fessie next week. (The Gutshot main event should be 25% cheaper if I can rake enough on Poker Trillion - as you can enter live events with your RakeBack at a discounted rate!). There is also a Rake race happening in May where the top 20 play off for a $4.5k WSOP mini package - Currently I am top :)

Online has been sick for the last couple of weeks - started with $500 on Poker Trillion (1st may) and tried to spin it up but lost over half of it in first week, so I played the Trillion Treat and the $5k guaranteed - Finaled both but failed on a 1st or 2nd place but still netted just $1.5k.

I have invested quite a bit of time watching video's of online cash play and also watching known winning players play online which has improved my game. With the bad run I had online cash last year I had turned into a bit of a nit and was missing out on value bets + a few other bad habbits had crept in.

Have been hitting the cash tables hard since then (also a few other final table appearances) and am currently on just over $4k. I have lost a couple of sick hands for big pots but have also hit two straight flushes this week and been paid on both!

Playing on Poker Trillion gets very deep very quickly as you can buy in for 200BB's. So sitting with over $1k at $1 $2 is very common.

I have also been playing more and more omaha with success.

The payout structure on Poker Trillion is a good one, under 50 runners means only top 5 get paid. So when only 31 enter the Trillion Treat $100 comp (with $5k added), getting in the money is such good value with 5th paying $600 and 1st almost $4k!

So all in all, this year (with the live scores I have had >£8k) is looking good. It needed to be to be honest after last years poor performance where I only made a few £k.

Laters people!

OVERLAYS................................

2008-05-19T06:42:00.001-07:00

Poker Trillion have daily guaranteed tournaments running at the moment, all of which are generating some nice overlays :

Take advantage of these quickly as they will not be there for long!

Latest update

2008-05-18T01:13:00.000-07:00

Well I must admit, ive been a little lazy with my blog - but whats new? lol

Pokerwise, things have been good. I final tables the £20k at Equal Chance for the 2nd time in a row, but again failed to get the job done and came in 4th for just shy of £3k. I must admit, I love this comp - excellent slow structure allowing for plenty of play.

Next came the Blonde Bash held at DTD. Me and the good lady travelled up to Nottingham on the Friday - with her sister in tow. She has been a little down recently and thought she could do with a weekend away. So, only one double room though meant 3 in a bed which you think would be fun no? NO! Damn she can snore for England! lol

Although the Bash was good, I had mixed fortunes. Took £1k with me. Went out on the Friday night to Chambers - a karaoke bar. Got completely smashed! Was even dancing AND sang! OMG - good job it was late so most had disapeared by them "phew"

Expensive night, with our 3 drinks costing £15 a time!. Was having a good night, then disaster struck when I decided we would head for DTD at 2am. Taxi driver took us there via Grimsby I think! Tosser! I managed to do £200 in a 50p £1 nlh cash game in about 10 minutes - very stupid but was good fun! Richard Trigg did similar.

So, the next morning I am a little worse for ware and was scared to look in my Wallet to see what last nights little adventure had cost - I felt SICK when I saw I only had £475 left WTF?!? Still, was a good night, just not sure it was £500 good though.

So, onto the main event - I felt as sick as a pig - I was so hot. Didnt last very long and decided to play the £50 comp DTD had on - I missed the start so I was about 15th on the alternate list. You only start with 4k but by the time I got my seat I started with 3100 and blinds of 75 150 and soon to be 100 200. I picked up no cards but there was one guy to my right you was raising almost every other hand - He was my target to get chips from. Everytime I could I would move all in on his raise - I managed to recover and then hit a couple of hands which saw me on 14k - just above average, but in 3 hands I was out - to be fair I should of been out on the first hand where I have raised in late position with 66 and called from the Button. Flop 6 4 8 rainbow. I checked to him expecting him to fire a bet, but he checked it back. Turn was a K. I again checked and he did also. River bought a flush and I checked again, he then bets 3000 to which I just flat call. He turned over 5 7 - He flopped the straight with a flush draw! How do I only loose 3000 on that hand? Reason is I played the hand so badly and he hit the flop a little too much.

Not much drinking that night and an early night

Sunday came and there was a £30 omaha tourney which I entered. I love playing omaha, such an interesting game - well I went on to get 3 way and I had 1/2 the chips in play - all 3 of us wanted it wrapped up (for different reasons) so a chip count was done and I collected £100 less than 1st place anyway - so a nice £500 profit.

All in all the weekend only cost me £200 - not bad from being £500 down after the first night of drinking!

Online is going well. I have moved to Poker Trillion and have made a few final tables and am beating the cash games! Hopefully it will continue.

They have HUGE overlays in their guaranteed tournies.

$10,000 freeroll!!!

2008-04-30T10:04:00.001-07:00

Yes, you read it right, a $10,000 freeroll for ALL new players!

Poker Trillion is where it is!

This freeroll is on tomorrow evening, so be quick!!

Also, the $500 new player freeroll is password protected, so once you have joined, email me for the password.

There is also a rake race commencing 1st May - where the top 20 rakers for the month will be invited to play for a $4500 WSOP mini package

(My website will change soon)

Whats been happening ..................

2008-04-01T07:05:00.000-07:00

Well since my last post, I have been back to Equal Chance every Monday and Friday (4 comps in all) - I love the place!!

In all 4 comps I have managed to accumulate alot of chips early on but have managed to bust out in the "2 table" crapshoot mode. This is when the blinds are way to big for the stack sizes (Av stack = under 10xBB). To me this stage is get chips for the final table - you just need a hand or two to go your way.

The good thing is that because it is such a crapshoot at this stage, it rarely takes more than one level to go from 2 tables to the final table - meaning you CAN play on the final table as the ratio of blinds to the av stack size is alot better.

Playing very well there, but it does seem to be a good place for me early on. I seem to hit every draw I go for in the eraly stages AND get paid off. Typical example was last night - I had shown a bluff early on with 7 4 o/s calling a raise and flop and turn bet, only for them to check the river so I took the pot and showed. Afterwards I limped into a multiway pot with 6 9 only for the flop to come 669 but more importantly got paid off! Then this poor lad raised my BB from 1st position to 450 (blinds 25 50) all fold to me. By now I have over 20k from the origional starting 6k so I am seeing a flop here with my 3 4 o/s. Pretty obvious he had a BIG pair AA or KK. Well the flop comes A x x. I have no hand no draw and check, he checks behind. Turn comes 2. Maybe he has KK and I can take the pot away from him? So I bet out 700. He calls. River comes 5. I check and he bets 1200. I move all in, he calls and has AA - It gets better,,,,,,,, so he reloads and I have now busted 3 players and have a mountain of chips and am controlling the table. I have a short stack to my right and the SB and BB have both had their add on and are under 5k. It is folded to the guy on my right who limps in for 200. I am the c/o and decide to raise here and pressure the short stacks. I make it 900 (My hand 5 7 o/s). SB folds, but the BB (same guy who I busted his aces) moves all in. It is another 1900 to call. I am going to pass until the guy to my right also goes all in for 1500. So now I have massive value here and cannot pass. I appologise to them both, call and turn over 5 7. I am up against AK and A9. Flop x x 7 x x and I take them both out. So at the first break I have 32k.

Thats the sort of thing that happens to me there - I also think I am playing better because I enjoy the actual club and the people though, but I admit, things like that certainly help!

I also went to Luton on a Sunday for their £100 f/o. I didnt really want to go, as I do not like the fact that they have cut the starting chips to 7500 but we had a house full of kids that were sleeping over, so I decided to go anyway.
Wish I hadnt, I didnt enjoy the comp, the structure was not as I was led to believe (ie 100 200 then 100 200 with 25 ante), it went 100 200 then 200 400 then 200 400 with 25 ante. This jump is too big imo with only 7500 starting chips.
I busted quite early from the comp and things got worse, I ended up doing £400 in the cash game as well as having to be subjected to threatening behaviour from 4 guys who had had too much to drink. Thankfully they calmed down though.
It did piss me off a bit though as I felt it was not my place to stand up to them, but no one else would. not even the cardroom staff! (to be fair to the staff though, they were short that night).

So thats my live scene since the last post. The plans for the next week or so are to play: friday at Equal Chance the 321 at DTD this weekend, the monday at Equal Chance, the £250 omaha at the Springfest then off to Newcastle for the weekend for the Virgin fessie. I may not play both the 321 and the omaha though - will see what funds are like.

As for online, I have started my challenge (mentioned at the tale end of last year) although I didnt start with £1000, I started with £800 with the intention of playing £100NL 6 max. It was a bit short for that level but I was hoping for a good start. It did not happen and infact it got worse! Together with playing a couple of comps (which I said I wouldnt do) and a loss of 8xbuyins, the challenge looked all but over. However, it is not all doom and gloom. I decided to play $50NL with the remaining $300 - still 6 max. I have done alot of research online and watched vids on how to beat $50NL - one of the best ones I saw was by pokertrix. The style of play is very basic, not exciting at all but it does work! I have a tendency though once I have reached $150 on a table to start to play "poker" which is bad because at this level i find it does not work most of the time.

Anyhow, after a week of this - total of 6600 hands (3 tbls and sometimes 5 tbls)I have doubled the roll to over $600 , running at 9BB/100 - which I feel is good - hopefully I can continue at this level. This is without the "loyalty bonus" I am entitled to - not sure how much it will be but probably around the $100 mark I would guess.

Thats it for now...........

£5k guaranteed at Equal Chance

2008-03-18T20:41:00.000-07:00

This was a £50 buy in with an optional top up costing £25. 5000 chips for each so effectively a 10000 chip £75 freezeout.

Over 80 runners for this, what a good turnout for a Monday night comp.

I must admit, I love the place and is now my new poker home.

The comp itself went very well, it was only a 20 minute clock but I found the chips/structure ok. There was still room to play some "proper poker".

I found myself on the final table again in good shape, was playing very well again and felt I had it in the bag. It was my Final Table and I was running over it with some considerable ease, then 5 handed the poker gods popped up and said "not tonight sunny!".

UTG raised to 45k which I flat called on the button with Kings. At this point I was 2nd in chips and they were 1st in chips (although not by much) Circa 200k each from the 800k in play.
The flop comes 6 7 9 rainbow. They continuation bet out of 50k and I instantly moved all in for 100k more. I had made this play a few times before and taken down pots without contention so I was just waiting for this exact situation in the hope they got boored of me doing it.

In the end they decide to call. On their backs, they have AK. I turn over KK to the table amazement lol.

The turn card comes an Ace - Marvelous! lol

So a 5th place finish for just over £500 not a bad nights work. Very gutted as I thought that comp was mine for the taking. I still lost with dignity though as always.

I will return again on Friday for a similar comp, this time its a £6k guaranteed comp for £60 with an optional £30 top up for 6000 chips a time!

3 final tables in a row? I think so :)

Equal Chance

2008-03-16T20:24:00.001-07:00

Never been here before, but after seeing a £20k guaranteed 2 day comp with a £200 buyin and a slow 45 minute clock - one £100 add on - total of 20k chips - I thought i'd give it a go.

Unusually, the comp starts on a Friday night, so with the postcode locked into the Sat Nav I was on my way.

On arrival, it did not look much from the outside and I was half expecting small round table tbh, but boy how wrong I was! Inside I was greeted to a sight of 14 full size tables (good ones), comfortable chairs and well layed out.

Now onto the comp itself. As I have said, it was a 45 minute clock with an exceptional blind structure - yes it started at 50 100 but the increments were small with no missing levels and running ante's kicking in.

You could take your optional one rebuy anytime you wanted for the first 2 levels giving you an extra 10k chips. I had already decided that I would see how the table plays, and if some of the people took it early on or managed to accumulate 20k in chips then I was going to have mine as soon as possible.

So with it being sold out (max 120 runners) and an alternate list of at least 15, it was "shuffle up and deal". There was a good Blonde/Luton turnout, including TK, Maria, Jim McBride, Vinny, Claire and I was drawn in seat 3 with Jim McBride to my right.

No one on our table took the add on straight away so I decided to wait. One guy did take his add on quickly though, but this was after busting most of his initial 10k. Things started very well and I was soon in control of the table - this was helped by some nice cards and hitting some flops really well - it is so much easier to make people believe you have what you are representing when then have seen you only bet with the goods (including the nut flush, and hitting 3 sets). One hand occured when I thought I was going to stack some por guy. I had 77 in EP and limped in. MP raised (he had been quite solid but aggressive with it) re raised to 300. I flat called. Flop 2 7 9 with one diamond. I checked and he bet out 600. I flat called. The turn came the Ace of diamonds. This time I lead out for 600 and he re pops it to 1600. Again I flat call, at this point I am representing the ace or a flush draw. I am not worried about them being on a FD now as I cannot see this guy re raising me from EP with
Kx diamonds. I am praying for a non diamond river at which point I was going to overbet the pot (probably all in) pretty certain this guy would see it as a busted flush draw and pay me off. But alas the river was a diamond - but it was the 7 diamonds! QUADS! How the hell was I going to get paid now? I fired out 1600 and he quickly calls. "Just Quads" I replied as he quickly mucks his cards. So a missed oppotunity to double up but still a nice tidy pot.

Then there was the guy who had his rebuy after doing most of his initial stack (alot of it in my direction) He was ultra loose and liked to gamble. Well we were in a pot where he had raised from late position and I called on the button with nothing fairly confident he didnt have much and I could take the pot away from him (the SB and BB didnt seem too interested)- he seemed to be "scared" of me. Anyway, the flop comes 2 to a suit and he bets out I flat call. Turn brings the flush and now he checks to me. I bet out and he re raises. Now he could of had the flush but my read on this guy was that he liked to bet when he didnt have it and check call when he did. So I decided to call his re raise. The river was a brick. Staring straight at him I see him counting his remaining chips (approx 8k) and he is clearly thinking how much to bet to win the pot. He glances at me , smiles then just mucks his cards!! lol saying "you are going to re raise me all in arent you?" Classic. So another nice pot, this time with no hand and not having to show.
Anyway, this same guy gets down to 600 chips but within a couple of hands he has almost 10k. At this time I have just over 30k. Then this hand occurs :

Again he raises my button to 800 from memory (2nd level) , there is a caller before me and I call with K J clubs. SB and BB again go away (they were really tight and I was robbing them left, right and center for a long time!) . So the flop comes 2 4 6 with 2 clubs, it is checked to me and I am happy to take this pot down now and bet out 2.5k. He then decided to re raise me all in! WTF? The other caller gets out of the way and I am faced with calling approx 5k into a pot of 16kish. The only hand I was worried about was the Ax clubs but with the size of the pot I took the chance here that he was just completely at it and with those pot odds and my hand probably favorite made the call. He turns over 7 4 o/s - he had check raised me all in with 2nd pair! So with 15 outs twice, I manage to miss and take a hit. Nothing much doing and I take the 10k add on at end of level 2. I could not do anything right from here and struggled for the rest of the day - no hands, running into bigger hands, no spots to make moves etc...

The only other hand worth a mention was before the above where me and Jim Mcbride clashed. He raised to 1200 from the cut off and I found AK suited on the button and repoped it to 4200. Jim flat calls me. We had similar stacks at this stage (probably around 20k mark before the add on). I hate the flat call and on a flop of 8 high rainbow flop, Jim checks to me. I know I need to win this pot here and now and have n idea what Jim has tbh, but I bite the bullet and fire out 7.5k. Jim dwells for a long time but eventually passes. Jim was pretty sure I had AK, but there was a doubt in his mind that I may also have an overpair to the board - I could see him contemplating setting me all in which obviously I couldnt call.

Anyway, with nowhere booked to stay I had origionally planned to sleep in the car (as it was a 2pm start) but with the area I decided against this and the only other option was to drive the hour home then back again! And playing the last level I only had 15k. There was talk of playing one more level as there were still 45 left in the comp. But with approx one orbit it was decided that it was indeed the last level. With blinds of 3k 6k and an ante, I was pushing it in in any unopened pot with any two cards - I did not really want to come back with such a low stack - but I found no callers and eventually finished on 26k with 34 left and 18 getting paid. So faced with the prospect of driving home, having 5 hours kip, then driving back , Vinnie offers me a bed at his gaff which I gladly accepted. Me and Vinnie had a 10% swap and he was on 80k (although he had been on 150k during the last level).

A good sleep and a cooked breakfast and it was time to head back for day 2. The traffic however was a nitemare and we were 10 minutes late. There had been a table redraw and I had missed the first two hands. Not too disasterous until I discovered that the two hands I had missed, I was the SB AND BB!!!! So by the time I get to the table, my 26k had become 12k!!! With blinds at 4k 8k!!

Well I didnt hold out much hope and had to push all in in unopened pots with any 2. First oppotunity came and I pushed it in - not even looking at my cards (but pretending to). I get a caller from the BB he flips over Q 10. I turn over J 2. Flop 6 Q 3. Im looking dead and burried. Then the turn comes a 4. So I say "Just a 5 then please dealer" and the river comes out a 5! I make a straight with the 2. Runner Runner perfect! lol

So with that double up I find myself on 25k but still in push any two cards mode, very next hand I open shove again (again with pretending to look) and the BB calls. He turns over KK. I flip the first card and its a 6, then flip the second card and its an Ace. The dealer promptly deals me an ace on the flop and I am on approx 60k. Still not comfortable but healthy. I manage to steal my way to 150k ish and then I make a squeeze play from the button - risky but worth it. Guy in mid position had raised 3xBB to 36k and it flat called from MP, it is folded to me on the button and I figure neither of them would want to play for 150k so after a dwell I move all in (I have 5 6 suited). I know if I get it through the first guy I was home and dry. And if the first guy had raised with a monster pair or AK at least I would be live! They both pass and I pick up a nice 90k pot announcing to the table I had AK.

So down to two tables and I had lost a few pots and was in danger zone again (circa 80k). I managed to find kings when Mark Banin made a standard raise from UTG with his big stack. I wish I had more chips in this spot but had no choice but to move all in thinking he was committed to the call. He passed his obvious "bag of bollox" lol.

My 10% er Vinnie had made the money but unfortunately for him busted in 17th place.

Another all in moment soon came with 12 left. I was SB . The button made it 35k to play and I had 77. I was pretty confident I was ahead but knew he was totally pot committed to call the extra 50k and thought I would be racing. But as it turns out he had 5 6 and I double again.

I continued to snap off people's raises with success until I misplayed this hand real badly which left the rest of the table seeing what I was up to and what with! I was attacking this one guys BB who was continually asking "what does the next one out get now?" and I raised from UTG with 8 9, not realising that TK was there with 20k after having just lost a big pot and was going to stick them in. So I ahd to show my 8 9 - I only lost 20k but the damage was done, the whole table now knew what I was upto and it made it very hard for me to steal another pot :(

Onto the final table I had built upto close to 300k with 5 left and limped with Q 10 suited. The table was raise pass and take the blinds mode and I decided to limp to break up the pattern. Blinds were I think 8k 16k. Well 4 of us see a flop of J 7 8. It is checked all round then the turn comes a dreamtastic 9. Jim Mcbride who has circa 300k as well bets out 40k. I say make it 100k. At this point I was pretty sure he had a 10 for the straight. Knowing he cannot fold for 60k, and figuring he would move in. Which he did. So a pot of 700k and he is drawing to a Q to split the pot. It didnt come so 4 handed I had 700k. Next hand saw the demise of the 4th place guy.

So 3 handed, the chip counts were 1.3mill to my 700k and the shortie on 500k. I had my mind firmy set on 1st place of £10k. I could of sat back and waited for the short stack to bust but wanted first so I went for it. I couldnt catch a break and the shortie was climbing ahead. Finally I found myself on 300k with blinds now 15k 30k I was really struggling.

I see a flop with the chip leader and it comes down 3 diamonds, he checks and I check behind him. Turn pairs my second card and again he checks. With enough in the pot I am taking this now, he wouldnt check a flush to me twice surely? So I announce all in. He calls with the made flush and I was totally outplayed into 3rd place.

So £4k for 3rd and I was very happy with the way I had played - even the exit hand. I was just outplayed.

The heads up battle didnt last too many hands and it was all over. 2nd place was £6k.

No talk of any deals whatsoever - which made a nice change.

One final hand I would like to share occured on the final table. The guy who had been constantly asking about the prize money shoves his stack all in (probably 100k ish) early on on the final with AQ. It is folded round to the SB and BB. The SB had not noticed this guys all in but did notice the BB tap the table - which he saw as weakness and decided to "nick" the BB and announces raise. Ooops. So now he had to committ ALL his chips. The BB folds out of the way and on their backs. The SB had 2 6 off suit and was obviously not very happy with himself at such a basic error. The flop only compounded his dismay as it came x Q 6. Onlt for another 6 to appear on the turn and he doubles up knocking the AQ guy out. Was a classic moment.

Finally I would like to say what a fantastic place the Equal Chance poker club is - I will be putting a link up soon to their website. The comp was fantastic, excellent structure and very well run. The staff were superb, very friendly and always on hand to get your drinks. They even remembered your name and what you were drinking, right down to how many sugars you wanted in your tea/coffee. A nice touch.

I for one will deffo be back to play this comp again which I believe will be a monthly comp from now on. I urge anyone reading this who enjoys good poker, with a good structure, good people and a decent prize pool to make tohe journey for the next one!

So with paying out my 10% to vinnie and 25% to the wife (its worth it trust me! lol) , some treats for the kids, some new clothes and a couple of bills, I am left with a tidy profit for the weekend of just over £2200. More than enough to start my online assault on the cash tables using bankroll management as prevously mentioned. I will update on my progress.

Apologies for the long post, but hopefully it was worth it!

Short Update

2008-03-16T20:19:00.000-07:00

Well played the $100 freezeout on ipoker, the deepstack one and finished 4th for $1k and also played the €109 freezeout on Poker Trillion with €5k added! This is fantastic value as only 30 odd runners enter this one. I was cruising along when I trap check this guy on a A 7 2 board holding AQ - this was after raising preflop and getting one caller. I checked the flop and he fired out a big bet and I pushed. He calls with 10 10 and duly hits. This was for a pot to go 2nd in chips with 15 left - oh well always next week. Its on every Thursday.

No live comps due to Sundays at Luton being cut to 7500 chips and the wednesday comp only attracting around 35 runners.

Poker Plan for 2008 on hold for a while

2008-02-10T01:35:00.000-08:00

Well the plan (as mentioned in my last post) was to deposit £1000 into one poker site and concentrate on creating a bankroll by playing low level cash - This is still the plan but I have yet to start.

January/Februray has already seen me spend out for a new 42" Plasma (our CRT is definatelt on the way out, purple streaks accross the screen!) and a new Leather 3 piece (ours is looking a bit tatty) so money is tight at the mo as I dont do credit cards/loans/buy now pay later - everything I buy is cash.

I have however managed a couple visits to Luton for some live Tournament poker, namely the £50 one rebuy/add on and the Sunday £100 f/o with some success, two minor cashes and a 3rd last wednesday - Hence the new purchases!

Online, I have played a couple of the $100 deepstack f/o on Ipoker, but have failed around the 20th to 30th mark - not bad beats, just bad situations. I could of cruised into the money and a few years ago that is what I would of done - but Poker is about learning and I have learnt along time ago that this is not the way to win tournament poker.

I have also been adopting the "build a monster stack" before getting to the money - yes it has led to me bust out earlier than I normally would have, but so close to taking a big stack to the money.

Even though Internet poker has changed, and I have to adapt everytime I play online, I still feel I am +ev in good structured online tourneys.

I will be missing the £100 f/o at Luton this weekend due to winning a $270 sat seat for the Walsall GUKPT. I qualified for this in a $20 rebuy event - outlay was $40.

I have also qualified for the Virgin fessie in April - a £100 deepstack event with £5k added. You cannot buy into this event and it is the second year it has run - I remember last year spending close to £400 trying to qualify! Luckily this year, first attempt ;)

Well thats all for now, will end this post by wishing Jim McShane all the best for his move to Vegas on Wednesday - he will be missed at Luton, but at least it will be one less "good" player to cope with in the DC cash game ;)

OK, Ive played two live tourneys...................

2008-01-08T16:52:00.000-08:00

Only 2 though, since my last post.

Both were £100 f/o at Luton. They couldnt of been more different.

First one I played last Sunday I was on 20k by the first break and 30k by the second break - nice easy tables you see ;) (Also helped by raising with Q 9 late position with a caller from the SB, flopped set 9's and quadded up on the river, smooth caller had AA)

Anyway, down to last 2 tables and comfortable in chips I was looking to take a big stack to the final table. One orbit was my undoing. In that orbit I had AK suited 4 times. Once on the BB and the action went raise, re raise - I passed.

The other 3 times I ran into shortish stacks with QQ and lost all 3 races - from comfortable to out.

The sunday just gone was a different story all together. I never got above the 10k starting stack. My initial table was "calling at all stations" and I couldn't hit a thing.

So nothing wrong in either tournament, no cashes, but such different results.

I also played 2 live sessions of Dealers Choice at Luton after the comps. 1st time sat with min £100 and spun it up to £450 but got greedy and lost it all.
2nd time, I left with £300.

Online, I have played one tourney on Stars. Started well but then had QQ into KK (all in pre flop) then AA into JJ on a J high board.

My Plan for 2008 is to deposit £1000 onto one site and play solely cash. Starting at 50c £1 NLH (4 tables for 4 hours ish a day). I will be moving up levels when I have 40 x max Buy in , and moving down when I have only 10 x buyin at the current level.
Hopefully I can build a roll to be playing $2 $4 by May.

This weekend I have another trip to Cardiff for the Welsh APAT event - last year I bubbled. I have gone deep in all APAT events I have played but have fallen fowl of the poker gods. This time I am looking to FT.
I feel I have a significant edge in the APAT events, in that I play alot of live and can read people pretty well, we will just have to wait and see if I can dodge the "gamblers".

Happy 2008 all !!

The last couple of weeks in 2007

2007-12-27T19:16:00.000-08:00

Well 2007 has finished slightly better than my previous post suggests.

I was involved in a "league" type competition at Luton, where by the top 128 played a heads up comp for £10k first prize.

This was my shot to turn around a bad year. I was fully focused and determind to win this and I was confident in doing so.

Yes I got very lucky in my first round match where I held AQsuited on a Q rag rag board and all the money went in only to find the guy holding AA! , Q on the river saw me through the first round. Now with only 2500 chips to start and blinds of 25/50 it was always going to be a bit of a luck fest. But after the first round, the stack sizes doubled each time, with the starting blinds only rising now and again. This was the point at which you could play poker.

My 2nd round match was relatively easy. My oppo would only play "good" hands (for MTT situations) I was raising and re raising alot and winning lots of small pots uncontested and it did not take much time to take a commanding lead and an eventual victory.

My hardest match was either the 3rd or 4th round (cant remember which) where my oppo was ULTRA aggressive. He raised all but 3 of his buttons in the first 3 levels! AND always CB (over the pot size) . He also over re raised my raises alot of the time. This made this match very hard as I was totally card dead. He quickly took a dominating lead and I knew I would have to "gamble" with him with a mediocre hand or two - This I did, and won both of the crucial 60/40's and I eventually won.

My quarter final was the hardest mentally as it lasted 3 and 1/2 hours! It ebbed and flowed back and forth, I even had the guy with only 10xBB (I had a massive lead) only to call an all in with a weak ace to double him up then I doubled him up again - I was so sick with myself as to me, these were the only 2 mistakes I had made so far. I did manage to recoup and eventually won.

So onto the semi's and I was facing Danny Samson - who I rate highly and tbh would of preferred to avoid. Deals had been mentioned as early as round 3! But I was having none of it.
Deal talks were again started, and again I was having none of it, but then money took over. You see, the prize structure was £10k for 1st, £3k for 2nd and £1k for 3rd and 4th.
So with £15k in the pot a deal was agreed that we lock up £3k each leaving £3k for the final.

Danny was tired and was only a matter of time before he wore down and pushed with marginal hands - which he did and I took my shot with KQ - which won over his 99.

So onto the final, but with no real time to play, we agreed to chop up the £3k.

So I took £4.5k - not bad for what was in effect a freeroll!

As I have said, I was confident at winning this from the start and was totally focused. My driving force? Well I had promised myself a new motor. The one I have now has done 154k miles and is showing its age - however it still drives like new (Audi 2.8 quattro) . Germans certainly know how to build cars.
My new car? Yes its German again, this time a BWM 330i.

The new car purchase was only possible after another success at Luton 3 days after at the £50 one rebuy/add on event where I again chopped 4 ways.

So, with no money left for Poker, I have not played since - either online or live and will not be able to for a couple of weeks.

But I am itching to get going!!

2008 here we come!

2007 as a whole

2007-12-27T19:08:00.001-08:00

2007 has been the worse year for me pokerwise since I started playing some 5/6 years ago by a long stretch.

All I have to show is a 2 week trip to Vegas (Binions Fessie) and a holiday for the good lady to Egypt. A VERY poor year indeed.

Online is where I have lost money, but as I play fewer and fewer tournies, the variance suggests that wins will now take longer to achieve. Thats not to say the standard online has not changed, it has. Immensely!

Online has become so ultra LAG that I have had to change my play to compensate for this. And this has proved difficult at times, but something I know I need to do to survive.

Online cash was probably break even overall, not helped by a couple of VERY BIG TILT periods. Playing while in a mood is something I must not do. It is a definate No No.

Live is where I have made my profit from, both MTT's and cash. Trouble is, with a family it is sometimes hard to justify the time spent playing poker - especially after a loosing session.

So 2007 all in all was a pretty terrible year poker wise and one I am glad to see the back of tbh. 2008 MUST be better.

DTD live club

2007-12-27T19:01:00.000-08:00

Well I got an invite to the opening few tourneys, but could only make the 2nd night.
It was a £100 f/o. So off I travel to Nottingham.

What a place!!

Even with the teething problems, Rob and Co have done themselves proud. It is a fantastic environment to play poker in, the stepped levels is a nice touch.

I am unsure as to how "profitable" it will be for jo public who go regular, and by jo public I mean poker players who play as a hobby.

I am sure the club will be dominated by the Pro's who will frequent this place on a regular basis - feeding on the easy money (if there is any) - and who could blame them!

As for the comp, I exited early when my A9 was outdrawn on a 9 high board by K9. It was one of those SB vs BB confrontations, me being the BB
SB bets out and I re raised enough that I couldnt pass. He duly goes all in with K9 - strange play I thought but I'll take the play against me all the time!

ECOOP event 2 $100 rebuy PLO8

2007-12-02T01:57:00.000-08:00

Decided to give this one a bash.

540 runners in this baby with 20 minute clock and 3000 starting stack. rebuys were 3000 more and the add on 4000. First prize of $23k

I took the rebuy almost straight away (new implementation into ipoker software and about time too!). My stack was never in danger and I was going along nicely.

Managed to get to 9k at the add on so came back with 13k and blinds of 50 100.

So $300 invested and I was liking my start.

I was in the top 20 all the way through the field with over twice the average stack until 20 left when I got moved to a hyper aggressive table with very very few hands that were not potted pre flop and I went totally card dead (hands like K J 6 8 rainbow etc...)

Then this hand occured. I have drifted down to 75k and am in the BB for 8k with Ad Jh 3S JC. Again it is potted from the c/o (who has 80k) and the button calls (who has 230k). I decide that this is the time to gamble with my made high and the 2nd nut low. Was this a good plan? I still am undecided, but my reasons for taking the gamble here was that the money for 20th ($850) was the same as 11th and it was the best hand I had seen for a while.

They both call, one had AS 2C Qh 8S and the other had AC AH 2S 3D - the AA23 taking the high with 2 pairs and the A2Q8 taking the low.

Maybe I should fold here? Even with hindsite I am unsure.

The next ECOOP event I like the look of is the $750 nlh with 5k starting and 30 minute levels, but am undecided as to weather to play or not.

Waterford Event

2007-11-29T00:23:00.000-08:00

What a great few days I had in Ireland. Everytime I go there, I am so envious as the quality of the tournaments is far superior to that in the UK.
The travel costs are cheap as well. £11.98 for return flights (including taxes!) you cannot go wrong. It costs me more than that to drive to Luton and back ffs!

Before I went, I was reading a forum where buying shares in people was being discussed. The discussion was based on "how much" you would pay for a %age in someone, and weather or not the amount ou would pay would include the travel costs. So as an experiment, I offered 20% of myself for 20% of the buyin (€500) AND 20% of the expenses. The 20% was locked up within an hour. I was a little shocked.

Anyway, on with the trip report. The event was being played in Waterford which is Southern Ireland, and being the skinflint I am I booked my flights to/from Dublin as these were £10 cheaper! lol. Well Dublin did not look that far from Waterford - 80 odd miles or so.
I was lucky enough to be offered a lift from Dublin to Waterford by Mike Lacey - top stuff cheers fella!!

The fessie was like this, a satelite for the €500 event on the Thursday, the €500 event on the Friday/Saturday and Sunday with a €250 event on Saturday/Sunday and a €150 event on the Sunday.
Structures were as follows : 15k chips for the €500 with an hour clock. 10k chips for the €200 and 40 min clock, 8k chips for the €150 with 25 min clock.
All the levels were included for all 3 comps with running antes (at various levels for the 2 larger comps)
I decided to play in the satelite which was a €100 buyin with a €50 optional rebuy OR add on. You were given 3500 starting chips and the rebuy/add on was worth 5000 chips so ineffect it was a €150 f/o with 8500 chips.
Half hour clock and with in excess of 100 runners produced 30 seats (although only 20 seats were on offer, 21st to 30th got €500) . As i had pre registered my seat, a 30th place was good enough for me.
It started well and during the first 2 levels I had managed to get to 7k when in the last hand of the level before the forced add on, I got dealt 77 and opened for a raise and this guy called me. He had been playing very strange poker and had somehow got to 7k in chips also - mostly from getting lucky hitting straights and flushes. I do not put him on a big hand as he would of re raised me - probably a medium pair. Flop came down A 6 10 rianbow and I led out for 3/4 the pot. He called reluctantly. The turn came a 9 (giving 2 flush cards) and again I bet out but this time just over the pot and he again called, even more reluctantly. The river was a harmless 3 (non flush card) and I moved all in. He called after a huge dwell up and showed 88.
This left me felted and just the 5k addon to come back with after the break. How he could call all those bets was beyond me, but he did.
With the blinds at 100 200 it was going to be a little hairy for me to get that needed double up early on after the restart, which I got and more! Funny enough, it came from the guy who called all the way with those pocket 8's. His game changed so much after the restart, he was now laying down hands and I took full advantage of this. I also had a very week/tight guy move to my right which helped.
Anyway, we were down to 3 of the bubble and I had a good stack of 38k with blinds 1k 2k (100 ante). It is folded to me in the cut off and I have A K and raise it up to 7.5k. Folded to the BB who moves all in for another 7k more. I have to call. He flips 77 and it holds up. That hand was my ticket, but with 24k although not in danger, things then began to get a little hairy. With the demise of 3 people it was now bubble time. I had 21k with blinds now 2k 4k (with 200 ante) it is folded to me on the button and I have AK and push. The SB had 30k with the BB having 43k.
Obviously I want to just pick up the blinds, the SB passes but the BB asks "how much?" then says "call". I would want AA in his spot to call, and I could even fold AA in his spot as his seat was safe. He had QQ. Terrible call imo. The flop and turn were all blanks, but a K on the river gave me the double up and I sat away from the table knowing I had locked up my seat now.
The guy then proceeded to give me ear ache saying "what are you doing pushing with that hand?" all I replied was " me? what were you doing calling with yours?". Anyway, seat won and a good start to the fessie.
Onto the main event then, and I started off really well, picking up lots of small pots and by the end of the first level I had 17k, end of level 2 I had 19k, end of level 3 I had 21k and end of level 4 I had 25k. Just the start I was looking for.
Level 5 was the bad level for me, I lost a few pots and was down to 15k and it got worse form then on. Totally card dead and with big stacks to my left gave me no oppotunities to gain chips.
I did manage to hang on until day 2 but only had just over 9k.
Day 2 started with blinds 300 600 and running ante of 50 - still plenty of time I was under no pressure. Playing a short stack is not a problem for me. It is funny though, I have no patience in life, but in Poker I seem to have all the patience in the world.
I spent the next few levels just staying around the 10xBB, jumping up to 20xBB but then falling back down. I could not string 2 pots together.
With the €250 comp now taking registrations I knew it would fill up very quickly. I did not want to bust out of the main comp later only to find the €250 full so I made a conscious decision that now was the time to play for double up or bust. Had the €250 not have been going on, I would of played a different game as I was still under no pressure due to the small blind increases.
One hand springs to mind, I am in on the button and UTG limps for 1200. I am shoving my 15k stack here with almost any 2 cards if there is no substantial raise infront of me. I do not put UTG on a big hand. THEN UTG+1 (who I had played with most of the day yesterday and was a good player) looked at his cards, then round the table at the people and stacks behind him. He noticed me and my 15k stack and just flat called. This sent alarm bells ringing to me as he was expecting a shove from me. I folded.
Flop came 10 J Q and UTG moves all in for 15k and is quickly called by UTG+1. UTG+1 had AK for the nuts and UTG had J Q. The turn was a J (giving him a full house) and just to rub it in, the river was the case J giving him quads.
VERY next hand in the cut off I am again shoving with any 2 if it is unopened to me, sure enough it is and I look at my cards before moving all in (As 9s I had). The SB passes and the BB is not even concerned at how many chips I put in, he says "raise" OOpps.
So me and him are on our backs, me with As 9s and him with KK.
Flop is 8 10 2 with one spade, turn is the J spades giving me o/e straight draw and the flush draw + any ace. But it wasnt to be and I was out.
So straight into the €250 where I again got off to a good start, this time running over my starting table and getting to 20k before the end of level 2. All continued well until around 24 of us left and playing the last level of the day I loose 2 big pots (one was a race and one guy caught a flush on me) which leaves me crippled. Finding a PP I have no option but to shove and I am called by AQ. A hits and out I went. Money started at 16.
Next day comes and I am ready for home and look to change my flight to go home a day early, but not for €180!! So I decide to stay and play the €150 event. This turned out to be a good move as again I started well but again just about to break to 2 tables I loose a HUGE pot which left me with 10xBB . This pot would have put me C/L (or very close to it), I had middle set vs flush draw and the flush hit.
I managed to somehow crawl my way to the F/T with only 6xBB. Seriously shortstacked.
A few hands in and I am UTG+1. UTG limps and I look down at 7s 8s. Good enough to push.
Folded back to the UTG limper who had circa 50xBB. He passed! showing me an Ace. Cant believe he folded, so I showed him my 7 8. He was not impressed! Now usually I would of continued to "wind" him up, but him being a well stocky irish lad who someone else had commented on earlier as being "mental" I thought better of it. Now UTG I find KK on his BB. I shove hoping to get a tilt call from him but it doesnt come. I try and get involved in the game but cannot catch any breaks. So down to 10xBB I am in mid position and look down to see an Ace and move all in. It is raised behind me, then re raised, origional raiser moves all in and it is called!. They both flip over AK - one being suited clubs. My hand? A 3.
Flop is a blank, turn brings the guy with AK clubs a flush draw so I now have 2 outs.
River? yep its one of my 2 outs and I more than trebble up!
Now a playable stack I move upto 80k
A couple of people have now gone out and I get the guy in the cut off shoving 80k. I look down to see AA and take him out. I am now stacked well.
We get down to 4 people and Andrew T makes a standard raise, I look down to see AK and move all in, he dwells but then calls. This pot is for chip lead. He has A 9 but the 9 hits and I am out 4th.
No complaints though, had a good run of cards/luck on that final table - although winning that hand and I felt the tournament was mine.
All in all a great few days away, with excellent structured comps. Irish people have poker so good.
Lastly but by no means least, a special mention to the guys running the event - BigSlick promotions. These guys ran a great fessie putting UK tournaments to shame and would even give some of the Vegas tourneys to shame as well. When blinds were getting a little big, they would freeze the levels to avoid a crapshoot, tables were balanced/broken immediately, rullings were decisive and quick.
You will honestly have a real hard time finding a better run festival and I myslef cannot wait to go back.

€5000 Freeroll on Poker Heaven

2007-10-21T09:11:00.000-07:00

Yes €5000 freeroll on Poker Heaven in November.

All you have to do to be eligble is to download the software from my site http://www.m3boypoker.com/ or the banner at the top of this blog. Then visit "The Player Zone" - link can be found on my site http://www.m3boypoker.com/ and thats it!!

You could walk away with a nice tidy amount of €'s for nothing!!

Good Luck!!

Whats been happening?

2007-10-11T18:22:00.000-07:00

Well, truth be told, not much.

I would of liked to post about every tourney I play, but tbh it would get very booring quickly - especially of late. Same old same old I'm afraid. Play well, get chips, loose crucial hand at the crucial stage.

Off to the Blonde Bash tomorrow for a good craic.

Also, really looking foward to the Waterford comp in Ireland next month. Top structure - including the side events!

Trying like mad to get into the GUKPT main final event - have now played 3 of the $140 rebuy sats online - and with only 20-30 players and a slow structure, there really is no need to rebuy. The downside is that only one prize. Still £70 for a $7500 prize aint too shabby. So far I have been 3rd, 5th and 14th.

Also, there are now sats running on Poker Heaven for GUKPT. Will certainly give these a try. Poker heaven has running ante's which changes the game greatly and I prefer them.

Lastly, my website www.m3boypoker.com has been updated - also includes a "latest news" page. I am currently investigating the possibility of having an RSS feed so that people know when the site changes.

Thats it for now.........

Online Satelite for the £300 DC at Broadway 19th Sept

2007-09-10T15:08:00.000-07:00

Well I have been asking and asking for online poker rooms to run satelites (with good structures) to the smaller uk fessie events, but none have taken the idea up.

With my association with Poker Heaven I decided to set one up. Its for the £300 event at the Broadway on the 19th September.

And what a structure I have for the online satelite!
It is 4000 chips and a 20 minute clock, but check out this structure :

10 20
15 30
25 50
50 100
75 150
100 200
100 200 25 ante
150 300 25 ante
200 400 50 ante
300 600 50 ante
400 800 75 ante
500 1000 100 ante
750 1500 150 ante
1000 2000 200 ante
1500 3000 300 ante
2000 4000 400 ante

The online Satelite will take place on Poker Heaven (under the private tournaments tab) on the 13th September at 8pm

To be eligible to play in this event you MUST download the software via my website http://www.m3boypoker.com/ , then email me at mail@m3boypoker.com with your Pin No (found in the profile tab). I will then email you back the password.

Get on it!!

£100 f/o Luton 9th September

2007-09-10T14:54:00.000-07:00

With the end of the first period of the G Casino League, I need to play a few more tourneys than usual to secure my place.
And as the "better Half" is in Egypt for a week I decided to go play the £100 on Sunday.

Got off to an impressive start getting to 25k pretty quickly. There was this one guy who was trying to "copy" my play by overbetting , I thought he was at it but decided to see for sure.
He sat 2 to my left and I made a week play on a board, and sure enough he came over the top. I folded (giving it all the hollywood saying I had a massive hand - which I didnt, just to get him to let me see if he was capable of a bluff). He showed a bluff! Fantastic! He had 20k and I knew I was going to have them all quite easily.

It didnt take too long to get ALL of his chips into the middle, I was holding 22 on a flop of J 2 7. It went check by me, he bet, I re raised (overbet but left PLENTY back) he couldnt resist in shoving. CALL! :)

So sitting on 45k and the closest on my table had 18k I felt VERY comfortable and was gathering more chips, then we got new players. One was Rob Garfield who sat 2 to my left had 40K. That was not good as this now restricted my stealing abbilities somewhat. However I did not have to worry for long. I was BB and a small stack pushes for 8k. Rob is next to act and moves all in for his 40K stack!! (Apart from me no one else had over 20k). Another small stack 7k odd, joined the all in and it is folded to me. I look down and see KK. CALL
Rob had 66 - strange play I thought, but I wasnt complaining and that took me to over 90k.
VERY next hand I have had plenty of banter with this one guy, you know the usual (I am going to have all your chips, pass quicker, grow some balls and call me , and such like). Well he raises from the cut off (having about 15k). I look down in the SB and find aces! ALL IN I announce (pretty much about 100k!) He couldnt resist calling me and that was the end of him!

This left 3 tables left and I had almost 20% of the chips in play!

Moved to 2 tables and it all went wrong. Had a calling station who took 70k+ from me with K4 (called all the way with bottom pair on a straightening/flushing board!), 2 3 called a raise form me while I had AQ and hit the 2. Called half of his 30k stack with A 7 (I had AQ) and flop was 10 10 7. He checked to me I set him all in he called holding A 7.

This left me making final table with a measly 36k :( He was outdrawing everyone and got to the final table with 150k+

Didnt take long for him to demise in 7th place I think. I managed a disapointing 5th but still a £500 payday again.

£50 one rebuy/add on Luton 5th Sept

2007-09-10T14:52:00.000-07:00

You know I like this tourney.

Started off very well , gathering chips until late on in the comp I had a couple of accidents and scraped onto the final table with just 12000.

Still managed to somehow get 2nd place . Well on paper anyway. We did some business with 4 left. So another profit.

Next stop £100 on Sunday

£50 one rebuy/add on Luton 29th August

2007-08-30T01:32:00.000-07:00

Marvelous start!

I managed to do my first 4000 stack in level 2 trying to get Ian Needleman to lay down an Ace on an Ace high board, unfortunately for me he had AK and was too stubborn! lol

So next 4000 arrived (last chance!) and I quickly moved to 8500 when holding AK myself, Mark Harris raised to 300 and I re raised to 1300. Folded to Mark, who had also had his rebuy, and he moved the remaining of his chips in. So 2700 to call into a pot of 5450 I decide to take a race here. Only trouble was he had KK and no ace came, so back to 4000.

Little else happened in that level and at the add on break (which I cannot have) I have a measly 3500 chips. Although it was not alot of chips in relation to blinds (now 100 200) with the average stack 9000, it was still enough to make people fold.

I got up to just over 5000 when in the BB, there is a raise to 900 infront of me and called on the button by Jim McShane. TK was the small blind and passes. I had made a few squeeze plays which were all successfull and do it again "All in". This time they BOTH call! Now this would normally be a problem, except for the fact that I had Aces ;)

The Aces held ud and I moved to 16000. I never looked back from here until down to two tables of 6, the poker gods said "not this time sunny!" again :(

I am SB with KK and face a raise and a call. I decide to flat call (risky I know but I wanted full value from my KK) and I know if an Ace hits I am in trouble and can get away. Flop is Q 2 5 (two spades) and with 13000 in the pot, I have 16000 back. I decide the flop is too scary and ship it in. Origional raiser calls me (he has me covered, just!), caller passes. Have you hit a set someone asks, no he replies and flips over Aces :(

One day the poker gods MUST say "Its your turn to win sunny" eh? lol

APAT Luton event

2007-08-26T16:40:00.000-07:00

First off, I know MANY people read my blog, so why not make a comment on a thread? You are allowed you know! lol

Anyway, off to Luton to play in the APAT event and I am drawn in Day 1a. 150 runners, 10000 chips and a 40 minute clock. I have played 2 of these events before, the first one in Newcastle and I was unsure of what to expect as these are aimed at amatuer players. I was more prepared in this respect in my 2nd one in Cardiff (where I was official bubble boy)

My starting table was a good one and only took me a round or two to work out that there were a couple of calling stations, a couple of total rocks and a couple of "in my opinion" players who knew what they were doing(ie could see betting patterns). This was a nice change to a table of calling stations.

I got off to a good start quickly moving to 16000 where I entered a race with AK for 6000 vs a short stack who had 77 and I lost the race. I soon recovered back to 18000 when :

One hand in particular occured. I am on the button with 55 and there are a couple of limpers, I notice one of the rocks (in the BB) look at his cards and really like them, so I limp as well. The SB folds and sure enough the BB makes it 500 (blinds 50 100). All folded to me so I decide to see a flop and hopefully see a 5. Sure enough the flop came 8 5 3. He bets out 1000 and I call. Turn card is a 10. Again he bets out 1000 and again I call. River is a 3. Bad card for me as I do not think he will pay me off for his whole stack now for fear of me having a 3. He bets out 1500 and I make it 5000, after a while he duly calls and turns over KK. So he is now down to 4000 odd.

A little later he enters another pot from UTG with a 500 raise - must be Aces this time I think and I have 7 9 o/s, but with 27000 at the time, I decide to call on the button.
Flop 3 7 9, this time when he bets I raise enough to put him all in, sure enough he calls, sure enough he has AA and he gets no help. Poor lad, I did actually feel a bit sorry for him but he seemed to take it well.

With 4 tables left, I had been open raising with almost any two cards and taking blinds uncontested. I had just had to lay down to 2 re raises when I find KK and open raise again. This time the BB flat calls leaving himself 14000 behind. I know he is shoving on any flop and I know I am calling - even if an Ace hits. Sure enough on a Q high flop he shoves and I call. He has 8 6. I like his play but he really didnt have enough chips to pull it off, and I also actually had a hand!

Managed to climb upto 44000 and with the average for the end of day 1 looking like being 45000 I was more than happy. With 3 tables left, we are playing the last level of the day(2000 4000) and I saw an incredible call (you can make your own mind up as to what "incredible" means). A guy raises to 12000 on the button (he has 54000 back) and the BB moves all in for 42000 more. The origional raiser calls with A 5 o/s! The shove from the BB had 33 and he spiked an Ace. Like I said "Incredible call"

My table is broken as we reach 30 players and I am on the button (sound familiar? lol) and yes my redraw is straight into the BB!

2 hands later I am on the button and have 32500 and face a 15000 (leaving roughly 30k back) raise from someone I know from online Poker (GI-MAC) . I look down to find QQ. In position I would of liked to flat call here, but know I should shove. Shoving means he calls anyway, flat calling I think he pushes on any flop anyway, so whatever I do, the outcome is the same. All the chips are going into the middle, so I push.

He asks how much the re raise is, and after some deliberation he makes the call and flips A Q o/s. I cannot find myself in a better position to win a 70K+ pot.

The flop is K x J - not again surely? Yep 10 on the turn seals my fate.

I can remember Carlo Citrone on Sky Poker saying "Poker is a game yes, but it can destroy your soul".

That now makes 5 tourneys I have gone VERY deep and in good position only for the poker gods to say "not this time sunny", so Carlo is spot on and my soul is being destroyed.

I must confess, I lost it a little, not at the table, but afterwards at the bar - hopefully I did not upset too many people.

I will however keep ploughing on, I am still playing the best poker I have ever played and that fianl table appearance with good chips can only be right round the corner right?!?

(Dont forget readers, you CAN make comments you know! lol)

£50 one rebuy/one add on at Luton 22/08/07

2007-08-23T05:46:00.000-07:00

This comp is one of my favorite comps at Luton, 4000 starting chips with an option to rebuy or add on.
It is a shame it only gets between 30-40 runners, but with The G 's new payout structure, means only 5 get paid so approx £1500 for 1st isnt too shabby.
I came 3rd in this last week and was feeling confident. My starting table was not the easiest (mind you, the standard of this comp at Luton means you are unlikely to find an easy table)
I decided to "go for it" right from the start, running over the table.
My first raise UTG was with JJ, Lali (sp) flat calls and Alex Martin is on the button and re pops it. Back on me and I re pop it again. Lali folds as does Alex (QQ face up!!) ;)
I was getting lucky in places it has to be said - including raising UTG+1 with 8h 9h only after Sonny limps UTG blind. Goes back to Sonny who decided to go "all in" blind for 3000. I have 11k at the time and decide to call. I win that hand with the 9 high.
By the end of the 2nd level I have 15k and with the add on I am on 19k.
This is where it went wrong. I lost a few chips in several pots going down to 14k. UTG I find KK and make my usual raise. This time it is folded round to Alex who goes all in. Folded back to me and obv I call. "Oh Shit" says Alex as I turn over my KK - he had 8 9. The flop was good for me, but it then came runner runner 8's - Alex had just over 5k so that was a big hit.
Down to 2 tables and I only have 9k now. UTG I limp with 10c Js. Couple of limpers and Mo is in the BB and wants to raise, I try and look like I am WANTING the raise so I can re raise - he notices this and decides to check. Flop comes A 2 9. Check check check check.
Trun comes 8. M0 bets 2500 and I immediately move all in. Fold fold, then Mo folds showing me AJ - I let him see my 10 J ;)
My BB was uneventfull so now on the SB I am dealt 7h 9h. Snatt makes a raise and it is called behind. I decide to call from the SB and try and take this pot away later (I am pretty sure Snat has pair JJ or QQ).
Flop comes 7 9 10. Now I am not worried about anyone having a straight at this point and the pot is big enough. I bet out half my stack. Snatt smells a rat and passes, the other caller goes all in. A 10 is my hope, but alas he flips over 10 10 and that was the end of that.
I had 15% in Alex who managed to cash for £120.
So off to the DC cash game and I do £150 in the first hand having flopped a complete rap - but miss. So I reload £150 and 2 hands in I get a double up. Things became stagnent then winning a pot, loosing a pot until the last half hour or so where I managed to double up (almost) to £520.
So all in all (even with buying me and Alex a meal) I came out £70 up.
I may go and play the £20 rebuy tonight, although I am not really a fan of this comp, it does have a £5k guarantee.

Golden Sands £500 main event.

2007-08-20T04:08:00.000-07:00

What can I say?

Fantastic tournament!

Apart from being juice free, this £500 comp was a 2 day event with BOTH days commencing at 3pm, meaning you got a decent sleep before returning to day 2 - well for those who dont sit in the cash games afterwards! (more about that later)

120 or so entrants, 10000 starting stack, 45 minute clock AND a decent blind structure including 75-150 and 150-300, and a running ante.

Superb comp with soooo much play. Day one saw me with a big decision on level 2. I am on the button with AA and there are 4 limpers. I make it 600 and get 4 callers! eek!!
Flop is K 2 5 with two spades. The SB then bets out 1500, and it is folded to me and I make it 3000. He calls. Turn comes 7 spades and he goes all in for 5250. If I call here and loose I am on 525 chips!!
Thought process?? I think he has K x - x being 10, J or something similar. Possibility he has a baby flush, I have the Ace spades which does make my decision a little easier. After a little deliberation I say "I dont see how I can pass this hand" and then "call".
On their backs and he does indeed have K 10. So a nice double up early on.
From there I never looked back and by level 5 I had 42k - must of been c/l at this point.
I then had a couple of accidents and went back down to 20k, then to 38k, then back to 12k!!
Eventually I finished day one on 44k (av of 30k) with 34 others.

Day 2 and I just could not get going at all, all I was doing was surviving around the 36k mark when down to 3 tables (21 players) I have to play the BB and SB and release both of them . Blinds at this stage are 1500 3000 with a 300 running ante. So now I have the button and a little breathing space to find a good spot, when they break the table and we go to 2 tables of 10 - a very strange decision as 18 were getting paid.
I get moved straight into the BB!! So after just posting 5100 in the blinds and ante's I am looking at posting ANOTHER 5100 in the next 2 hands!!!
The luck of poker eh?
I suppose I should of known at this point that I was destined NOT to make the money. I had to release my BB so now I am small blind with 26.5k back. It is folded round to me and I have A 8. The BB has circa 80k and I think if I shove he would probably call with a huge range of hands so I decide to show immense strength and raise it 10k more. (Leaving myself 14k back)
The BB announces "All in". Not what I wanted to hear!
Now I am faced with a big decision. Fold leaving myself with 14k, or call and hope I am not a huge dog.
I wanted to fold, but with the blinds as big as they were, I would need to double up twice to get to the 70k that this pot was now worth. So playing for the win and not to place I decide to call and "gamble".
He flips over 88 - my worse nightmare (apart from AA of course). I am resigned to going out just before the money again when the dealer flops an Ace high flop!!
Result!! I think, until the dealer turns the CASE 8 :(

So thats now 3 major tourneys, have played really well and had a good position to push for a decent final table cash, only to see it go up in smoke.

Always look on the bright side though, finishing 20th I didnt bubble! lol

Not a bad weekend though, including the travel costs, I ended up a £1k thanks to the cash games.

I will DEFINATELY play another one of these events - superbly run and well structured.

Next stop - APAT in Luton this weekend.

Update.....

2007-08-16T05:49:00.000-07:00

Firstly my website http://www.m3boypoker.com/ is up and running (albeit some pages still to complete).

Now onto the poker.

Online I have only played a few tournaments - gone deep in all only to go out to inferior hands - i just cant seem to crack online tournaments anymore, well thats what it seems like.

Online cash was going well this month (up approx $2k) playing $1 $2 and $2 $4 omaha. Also up playing N/L. But then disaster struck on 3 tables of Omaha $2 $4 which saw most of that profit disapear. I do love omaha cash but the swings can be huge!

Have not had any live cash sessions for a while as I have been going VERY deep in my live tourneys. The last being the £50 one rebuy/one add on in Luton last night. Only a small field but a quality one. The money is not life changing by anyway but it is always a good game with good people. TK was there as usual and we seem to play pots against each other and it is a case of who can win a big pot with the worse hand! Well thats how it seems anyway lol. Great fun!
I won last night after raising from the SB vs his BB (with 5 high) only for TK to call. The flop came something like K Q x. Now I know if i bet this. TK will come over the top and I would have to fold, so I decided to check call his bet on the flop and push on any turn card. It worked out perfectly :)

I must mention John (sorry John forgot your surname) - he is a wealthy chap who enjoys playing poker. Well on the final table down to the last 5 and some other guy wanted to do a 5 way equal chop (approx £500 each) but as we were all in no danger (ie over 20 xBB each) I declined the offer. I then lost a huge pot with AK vs a button push with 77 which crippled me. I clawed back up to 30k and then lost another pot. So down to 11k with blinds at 2k 4k there are 3 of us left. The other 2 (John and Ian) have circa 120k each. 3rd place was £460 and John says to Ian, "lets give Paul £600 and we can split the rest) Ian agreed. I was happy with this, and deove to Stanleys in Luton and paid in for the £500 event in Torquay on Saturday - a 10k chip comp with 45 minute levels and slow blind structure (also running ante's) £30k guaranteed.

Freerolling in Torquay!

Poker heaven

2007-08-09T17:52:00.000-07:00

I would just like to clarify that I DO NOT recieve ANY %age of any rake players get for signing up through my website.

And I would just like to clarify the $600 bonus offer (max) is given by 150% of your first deposit.

The bonus is paid out at a rate of $10 for every $50 rake generated - of which you get 30% rakeback as well! SO this really is a good offer!

Visit http://www.m3boypoker.com/ and sign up now! You have nothing to loose and who knows, you may even enjoy the site!

Bloody Bubbles!!!!

2007-08-09T17:32:00.000-07:00

Well my plan was to play the GUKPT event with winnings from the smaller side events. I had picked the £100 f/o, the £200 one rebuy/one add on and the £500 DC f/o.

The £100 f/o was just a joke. The clock was shortened from 30 minutes to 20 minutes for the first 4 levels (ie 25/50 50/100 100/200 200/400) so clock was not 30 minutes until 300/600 level! And with only 5000 starting chips meant you HAD to get busy early.

I demised at 200 400 pushing from the button with KQsuited for 4000 only for the SB to call of 75% of his stack with QJ - obviously he spiked the queen, but what a bad call especially with the BB still to act after him, but what do you expect from a £100 comp?

So, onto the £200 one rebuy/one add on comp. This was a 45 minute clock with 5000 starting chips so effectively it was a £400 double chance with 10k.

I did not need the rebuy and had got to just over 10000 when taking the add on took me to 15000. With the clock this was plenty.

I then had a yo yo effect for the rest of the day, going betwen 20k and 10k. Late into day one I find myself with just 8 big blinds and get A3 o/s under the gun and think of shoving and taking my chances, but decided against it. Only to see a flop of A 10 3 with the SB having K 10 and the BB with Q 10. So onto the BB and I am committed if I hit any of this flop. SB completes and I look down and see 8 4 o/s. Flop 10 8 4 all hearts. Checked to me and I move all in. I get called by Q 8 and my 2 pair holds up.

Shortly after that I get moved to the last 3 tables with approx 20k and blinds 1k 2k. With about 45 minutes of play left I decide to go for it. UTG raises to 5500 - this was a weak bet (I had been playing with this guy all day and had him on a "im utg so I must have a good hand" move. I have made up my mind to shove here if it is folded to me in the SB. It was, and I shoved with 2 5 o/s. He folded VERY quickly.

Next hand folded to me on the button and I raise it to 6000 both blinds fold. Next hand folded to me in the cut off and again I raise it to 6000. Button and blinds fold and I take another small pot.

Again folded to me next hand and I again make it 6000 with K J o/s. This time the BB flat calls (who has over 60k). Flop A 10 2. He checks to me. I am fairly convinced I am ahead here and want him to make a bet so I can re raise, so I check behind. Q comes on the turn. BINGO!! I am trying to work out how best to get paid when I hear him say "all in" - he has Q 6 and is drawing to chop the pot, which doesnt happen and I goto 70k in chips!

End of day one I finish with 63k (av 66k) with 23 left and 18 getting paid.

Day 2 was very slow and I could not get anything going, I am just surviving by picking up pots where can.

We goto 2 tables of 5 and play 3 whole levels!! I have between 70k and 90k with blinds 6000 12000 and I am looking to double up as everyone is playing so tight. So almost any unraised pot I am pushing in. Eventually I push with AJ and run into AK. Although the flop came A 10 J my smile was soon removed as the Q came on the turn and I exited in 10th place.

The payout structure was really bad. 183 runners, £420 to play (with the juice) and 18th to 10th ALL got £400 (9th was to get £1700). So I played for two days, beat 173 runners only to make a £20 loss. WTF?!?

This happened at about 7.15pm and I was in no mood to play the £500 so decided to go home.

2 days later and it was the £300 omaha tourney, so I decided to goto this instead. 103 runners (which is VERY good for a UK comp) and we get down to the bubble again and I again exit on the bubble!! for Fuck ALL this time :( (9th getting £800 and the winner roughly £10k)

So those 2 bubbles cost me £2500 at least!!

Feeling dejected, decided against paying £1k for the GUKPT main event.

Horrible though, I feel I am playing the best poker I have ever played at the mo but just cannot be the right side of the coin at that crucial stage. One day I will be and then look out final table!!

My new website www.m3boypoker.com is almost complete, however there is an "under construction" page there now with all the information on what I can offer people who wish to join poker heaven.

Times are changing!

2007-07-30T08:28:00.001-07:00

Hi All

Some news.

As you can see, things have changed a little!

I am now associated with Poker Heaven (could you tell? lol)

The move from DTD to Poker Heaven was ammicable and I still remain 'friends' with those at DTD. I will still support the live club in anyway I can and will be there when it opens.

I have a new website which will be up and running VERY soon. The address is http://www.m3boypoker.com/

I will post again when it is live.

Final post re Vegas 2007

2007-07-08T08:01:00.000-07:00

Well just to sum up really, as well as a couple of stories :

Binnions was a fantasticly well run fessie, and all being well, I will return next year.

Anyone considering going to Vegas, take your partner, or at least go with a mate. This way, you will have company and will be less likely to leak money on Roulette/Black Jack and other table games as well as the dreaded fruit machines!

Overall, I was slightly down for my tournaments, and somehow slightly down on cash as well.

This was my first venture to downtown Vegas, and I found it very nice. Previously I had been on the Strip the whole time. This time however, I did not venture to the Strip once - I did not feel the need to do so. All the casino's on Freemont Street are REAL close, taxi costs are non existent as Casino hopping was litterally a few second stroll.

I must mention a few stories from my many cash sessions - all of which were far far too long to be honest. There was this one guy (pictured left) who was obviously a real player - he was there every night with plenty of "green" as he put it. This was the guy who had 99 when I had 44 (see earlier posts).

Well anyway, I sat down another night and was controlling the table, again taking my $300 to almost $800 when this guy sits down. The man pictured left was also at the table. The new guy who sat down looked very familiar to me but I could not put a name to the face.

Anyway, this new guy was raising every hand, and every street. He had plenty of mouth to go with it and got into a slagging battle with the guy pictured to the left.

It was getting really annoying that I knew this new guy but could not remember where from, nor put a name to the face.

Then it suddenly hit me when these two got into another slanging match, and this new guy says to the other guy, I am going to take great joy in busting you, to which the guy replied "you dont have enough money to bust me little boy" then this new guy replies laughing "dont you know who I am?"

Then it hit me - it was Brian Wilson!!

I then took at least 30 minutes winding Brian up, by saying I know you "Brian" and I know you "Brian Wilson" - lol , he was getting really puzzled as I was dropping other little comments in that I had picked up from Blonde.

Eventually I told him who I was and I then just sat back and watched the fireworks between Brian and this guy.

One hand springs to mind, the other guy had AA and raised preflop, Brian re raises, The other guy then re raises and Brian moves all in for close to $900 which the other guy duly calls. Brian proudly flips over 6s 7s and says "thats real poker baby" - the other guy was not so impressed as Brian went on to flop/turn/and river a straight for a pot close to $1700 on a $1 $2 game!!! lol

It was such a joy to watch Brian play - he was ultra aggressive and hit some wicked outdraws, none against me thankfully, but I was just watching rather than playing - although I was waiting for 7 4 so that I could get in a pot with Brian and move all in! But it didnt happen.

Another cash story I have is one that involved one guy obviously playing well outside his bank roll. I was sitting at a $1 $2 game, (after loosing $500 on a $1 $2 p/l omaha table). I sat with $200 and built this up to $650. There were 3 young Americans at the table, all sat with around $700 and we were all having a real laugh. Then this one guy sits down with one stack of red chips (thats $100 lol). Well these americans were ripping the piss out of this poor old boy who had obviously came to play a serious game with his $100. Anyway, to cut a long story short, he took out his wallet and produced his last $400 which he exchanged for chips.

This poor guy was being pushed all over the place by me and these Americans by overbetting flops and taking them away from him uncontested- then this hand happened :

I am the BB. The first American raised it to $10, the second American called, as did the 3rd American as did this serious guy. I look down to find KK and re raise it to $75 (overbet as I had done on many occassions). All the American guys passed then this serious guy said "I raise" - music to my ears! He could not have AA, not after calling a $10 preflop raise by 3 people infront of him. He makes it $150.

Now these Americans are sitting in seats 1 2 and 3, with the serious guy in seat 4. I am in seat 7 so directly opposite the Americans.

As soon as this guy says "Raise to $150" I move all my chips into the middle of the table and just sit there motionless. I could feel this serious guy staring at me and I felt obliged to look up at him. As I did, I caught sight of the young Americans who were laughing about something, and I just started to laugh myself. The more I laughed, the more they did and the more I did. To the point that I was almost crying with laughter!

All the time, this serious guy was looking straight at me wondering what to do. I looked at him and said "Please do not read anything into this laughter, it has nothing to do with the strenght of my hand" Well with this he says "Call"

He flips over AK - AK ffs!! lol and he called of all his chips preflop.

Needless to say I did win that pot and he looked totally dejected. Thinking about it afterwards, what I said to him I was genuinely trying to help him to fold, but in the end induced the call.

I will sign off with a few pictures, including a view from my Hotel window, some views of Freemont street - A visit you MUST make at night to see the fantastic light show - it is out of this world!! Also a Pic of Mike - THE BEST DEALER IN BINIONS - and such a character to boot! Also a cracking pic of a local downtown resident! (guess which one lol)

The 2nd $500 tourney

2007-07-07T12:40:00.000-07:00

Better preparation for this one - I arrived with an hour to spare! lol

I was expecting alot of people for this and was suprised with just under 200 runners.

Mr Moves, and his pal were also playing this.

Got drawn on Mr Moves table - who doubled up quite early on. Then after drifting back down to 15k, he made a mistimed move and lost all but 1000 chips :(

Myself got off to a slow start gradually adding to my initial stack of 10k. I continued to play well again and down to 3 tables I had an average stack then went card dead. There was one person on my table who was obviously inexperienced and only had 2 moves. All in or fold - regardless of how many chips he had. It was commented on by another player at the table by saying "cant you play poker?" which I found a little out of order, but maybe he was trying to "rattle" him.

Anyway, this guy had shoved on me a few times and I also found it annoying.

There was one guy to my right who was chipped up and obviously a good player. We were in a blind on blind stiuation and I had 7 4. We both saw a flop of 8 9 10. I checked to him and he made an oversize pot bet, which I then shoved. I was a little nervous when he announced call, but was relieved to see him have 7 3 lol. CHOP "Proper poker" he commented.

So down to 26 players with top 18 getting paid, I find AQ in late position and raise. The "one move" charlie then goes all in, and I called (he had me covered). I had 38k at this time so was a big big call but I wanted to win, not just place.

To my dismay he flipped AK and I was drawing pretty thin on a blank flop, but the turn was a Q and I doubled up. This left the guy on approx 35k.

With blinds at 2000 4000 with a 200 ante I find 10 10 in late position and again raise, the same guy then shoves and I insta call. He flips KK and i loose the chips back to him I had just gained.

I was a little annoyed that I did not even consider the re raise size, I was playing "personal" poker - something I had not been guilty of before in any tourney at Binions. I am not sure that I would of passed anyway, but I was annoyed that I had not even considered anything!!

This then left me 40k again and after card dead, with no oppotunities to make moves either, 2 rounds later saw me VERY short with just 23k.

I had the BB of 4000 and a guy in early position raises to 12k. All fold to me and I again look down to find 10 10.

THIS time I gave alot of thought as to what to do. It was only 11k move if I shoved and I could not see him folding. My thought process was : 1) fold and shove first on another hand or 2) call the raise and shove on any non A board. I could not make up my mind what to do - a clock was called and I eventually went for option 2 - just call and shove my last 11k on a non Ace board.

Well the board came K J 5 - and I shoved. He called with AJ and I was out.

Again disapointed to go out so deep, but again pleased with how I played, apart from the 10 10 hand mentioned above where I called the all in without any thought process.

A mention to Mr Moves Pal (Cant remember his name) who I believe took this one down for $20k!! VERY WELL DONE!

I have a couple of other stories of the cash sessions I had, but will post them tomorrow.

Hope you have enjoyed the read.

I have no regrets of playing Binions instead of a couple of the wsop events, none whatsoever.

The tourneys were excellently ran, the staff were fantastic.

And, babysitter possible, I will be back for the 2nd Binions Annual Classic next year - with Charmaine ;)

The first $500 tourney

2007-07-07T11:40:00.000-07:00

Over 200 runners for this event, and I got up late, VERY late!!

The comp started at 2pm, I had set my alarm for 12.30.

Not a good alarm, I slept through it and woke up at 5 to 2!!!!

So a quick shower, change and off the Binnions. I arrived at 2.40 and joined in.

Not much of my 10k starting stack had gone and it was down to business. Although arriving late, and not my usual "relaxed" preparation, I felt good and focused.

Again I played VERY well and stayed above average stack right the way through. Then disaster struck :(

Down to 79 , Av around the 24k mark and I have dropped to 18500 and have 55 on the BB (Blinds 600 1200 with 100 ante)

Serial raiser raises to 3200, small stack goes all in for 3000 and I think of putting a BIG raise here to try and take on the short stack myself, but change my mind and flat call.

I checked dark and didnt even watch the flop, I just heard the guy say "5000"

I look up and see a flop of 8 5 8 - BINGO!!

ALL IN BABY!!

He calls, so pot is 40k+

He has AA

Turn A

River - just to make sure - is an 8

Gutted with that one!! With him just having 4 outs on that flop and hitting 2 of them :(

Just wasnt to be

Day off Monday - wel that was the plan!

2007-07-07T11:33:00.000-07:00

Monday was going to be my day off with only the $150 limit tourney going on.

I did not play the Limit tourney but found myself in Binnions at 7pm. They were running STT's for a seat into the $500 events and going on the standard of play from what I had seen, I thought this would be a cheap way of getting in, so I signed up for one.

I was waiting over an hour for this STT to get going when they announced the start of their nightly $70 + one $40 rebuy tourney.

Sick as I am I decided to pull from the STT and play this while I was waiting.

Well wait I did, and wait and wait lol - I did not need to play a STT as I again went deep into this comp. WIth 20 left and only 10 being paid, I had 11k. That final 2 tables was the easiest tavle I have ever played on. I stole and restole my way to take 85k to the final table! I even had the button (on my BB) saying "I should raise with this hand, but I know if I do, you will shove" lol - how good do you ever want it? :)

Well the final table didnt last too long as the blinds were HUGE! It was eventually chopped 7 ways for over 3rd place money of just over $900.

$100 rebuy

2007-07-07T11:30:00.000-07:00

This comp had a field just over 200 (from memory) and after rebuying straight away, I did not need another rebuy. I took the add on making a total of $300 invested to give me a starting stack (after adding on) of 18k - quite reasonable.

Steady progress of my stack took me again deep and again over average chips. But again faliure :(

Although I did cash in 17th place for just under $600, I was again disapointed to go so deep without a "proper" cash.

$1000 p/l omaha

2007-07-07T11:14:00.000-07:00

A relatively small field of 123 for this event. I suppose the buy in was a little stiff for the "downtown" croud. Although it did bring in a few "named" players. I spotted Mark Goodwin, Jonny Houston, Michael Greco, and I an Woodley - there may of been others but I was fully focused on this one!

I got off to a slow start, never getting above my 20,000 starting stack in the first 3 levels. The next 3 levels saw me miss some big draws to leave me down to 12k.

Mark goodwin was moved to our table, sitting 2 to my right I found it very tricky due to his aggression. Anyway, he was going on nicely then lost a HUGE pot to a guy hitting a miracle river.

This seemed to upset him somewhat and his game changed. I took the oppotunity pre flop to get it all in against him - which he obliged and although I was not a big favorite, my hand stood up and I was on almost 30k.

I continued to climb to 70k at the dinner break and with 3 tables left, I was sitting above average and deep into another tourney again!

One Time! I kept telling myself, One time!!

On my return from dinner, I saw Ian Woodley, he was still in sitting on just over 30k. I was tempted to offer him a savor of 10% but changed my mind. This was to proove costly :(

Things once again started to go wrong and I dropped 20k quite quickly, while Ian had doubled up.

With 17 left, I was dealt Qh Qd 8d 9h and raised preflop. I got one caller, this French guy who was ultra aggressive. He had just won a massive 300k pot by hitting a one outer after pulling of a super move. He was invloved in a pot with this guy who had approx 140k. There had been action pre and post flop on a 5 5 7 board. It went crazy when the turn came a 2. The frenchman bet pot, the other guy re raised pot and the frenchman moved all in. The guy took an eternity to call but eventually did holding just the 5 with no redraw (cept the FH draw of course). The Frenchman announced "good call" "I just have the 7. So cards on their back and one guy says "you only have one out, I passed a 7"
Sure enough the river came the case 7!!

Anyway, back to my hand. Qh Qd 8d 9h

Flop came 10h Jh 2c. I was first to act and I knew if I checked, he would bet the pot, THEN I could move all in. So I checked.

He bet the pot and I moved all in. After about a minute, the Frenchman says "I am on a draw" " I Call"

He was indeed on a draw, the nut flush draw, so I was ahead and had plenty of redraw outs.
The turn came a blank, the river,,,, yep an Ace.

So so so gutted over this one.

ANOTHER comp well played and deep, but with no cash :(

SO back to that saver I was going to offer Ian Woodley, well I should have, he went on to make the final table and chop it 4 ways for a nice tidy cash.

$150 nlh

2007-07-07T11:09:00.000-07:00

MASSIVE 498 turnout for this event! Giving a nice little payday for the winner for such a small outlay.

I managed to double up very early on, thanks to some real bad play on my starting table and stayed way above average until 70 odd left, then it all went wrong.

A few mistimed steals/re steals saw me drop below average for the first time in the day. My final hand was KK vs AQ - a big call from the AQ I thought. I raised from late position, the BB re raised and I shoved for the rest of my stack. He called off 80% of his stack and caught the Ace.

That was the end of that comp. I was very disapointed to finish here as I was playing really well all tourney.

Tomorrow is the $1000 p/l omaha tourney.

2 7 Tripple Draw

2007-07-07T11:04:00.000-07:00

My first ever time of playing this game. Had a 10 minute read on the Internet the day before.
Basically it is a low game, with A counting as high, and straights and flushes are bad.
You get dealt 5 cards, then you can discard how ever many cards you like and get given cards back. The draw happens 3 times with rounds of betting inbetween.
So best hand is 2 3 4 5 7 off suit.

How hard could it be?

Well the answer is not that hard, but it is hard to make hands!

Just an example, I was dealt A 2 3 4 5 off suit off the bat and was on the button. I raised the bet and discarded one card, the Ace.
I then get dealt a 6, still no good but I am drawing to the nuts, so I raise the bet again.
Then discard the 6 and get dealt ANOTHER 6.
Still a good hand, I raise the bet again.
The pot at this stage was quite big.
I discard the 6 and get dealt an Ace back :( and have to give up the pot.

I got deep, but not deep enough to cash.

All in all I enjoyed the game, but can be VERY frustrating at times.

Next stop is the $150 nlh event.

$100 Stud Hi Lo Limit

2007-06-28T03:20:00.000-07:00

Woke up with around 90 minutes to the start of this tourney, and wasnt in the mood to play really, but eventually got dressed and headed for Binions.

Again a HUGE field of almost 300 runners for this. 3500 starting stack.

I managed to quickly get to 10k and continued to build upto 37k after the 3rd break which was well over the average.

I proceeded to do 10k in chips in 3 pots against shorties.

Left me with 27k (still over average) which I took to 100k with 20 left.

There was $7k for the winner with 32 places being paid, 9th was worth $390.

It was eventually chopped 12 ways for over 4th place money - total crapshoot.

Collusion story for you :
Down to 19 left and someone proposes a 19 way chop for $1000 each. I was the first to object. With 100k I could go to the river and loose 2 times and STILL have 30k left.One woman took real offence me to objecting.Down to 14 and I have 105k but the blinds have increased twice, making it a real crapshoot, if I go to the river and loose, I am left with under 20k.So now I agree to the deal (proposed again by someone else). This woman who took offence to me objecting earlier then says "No" just because I have now said "yes" - Fair enough, she has every right to do this,,,,,, but, then this happened :
I over hear her say this to the person sitting next to her :
"Its mine and your job to knock him out (meaning me) then I will do the split"

Immediatley I call the floor and say she should be ejected from the tournamnet for cheating. A huge row errupts, she is still kept in the tourney. Even the person she said it to said that she had indeed said that to her, word for word.Anyway, eventually a chop was done giving everyone over 4th place money.

So, a nice return on a $100 and back to business tomorrow in the 2 - 7 tripple draw.

Spirits obviously lifted a bit now

$200 omaha 8 limit

2007-06-28T03:11:00.000-07:00

This post is a bit late, but all will become clear as to why later....

Really looking foward to this one, having been quite successfull online with this game.

Again a BIG field and we are off!

Nothing really happened for me except from bouncing from 5000 to 6000 to 3000 to 6000 etc...

The I pick up a huge draw , nut low draw, nut flush draw. I check raise a guy TWICE!! and he STILL bets into me on the river with 2nd pair and no low :(

So that was the end of that. I think I went out around the 60 mark again, so feeling dejected, I did the sensible thing. NOT!!

I went and sat in a $1 $2 n/l game. The game was mad with most sitting at around $1500 deep. I sat with $300 and as the table was VERY loose, I just played tight and was waiting for my big hands to get paid off. I slowly built it up to $600.

There was one guy (sat with >$2000) who was playing real mad, and calling down people with 2nd pair ect... He had doubled this one person up twice, and doubled 3 others at the table.

I am going to leave, and decide to play "just one more round". Fatal!

On the last hand for me I get 44 UTG and limp in. Called and then raised to $20, which was called by 2 others. I call.

So 4 to the flop and it comes 2 4 8 rainbow. BINGO!!

I check, the mad guy bets $50, all fold to me and I make it $200. He calls

Turn comes a 9. I move all in for $350ish and he calls.

FLips over 99 for the 2 outer and that was that.

So now 6am and feeling real sorry for myself home, I brave the walk from Binions to Elcortez, it aint pretty at that time of the night.

Felt so low that I was ready to change my flights and come home. It was really that bad.

To be coninued.................

$200 limit tourney

2007-06-26T00:43:00.000-07:00

Well it was my 2nd tourney today, the $200 limit holdem. Yes I said "Limit" lol

Not my choice of tourneys really, but worth a crack.

140 runners with 30 min clock and 5000 starting stack. 1st was gonna be $7k and paying 14 places

First break came and we were down to 139, I had just above average stack, and stayed there until aprox 70 left. Then it all went wrong. I had 10 J 3 times and ended up doing 3xbb on all three ocasions as the flop came A K x or A Q x. This leeft me short, which was disapointing after playing well for 5 hours. Final hand was a stand in the BB - I did get 5 way action so I would of been right back in it had I of won that hand, but it wasnt to be.

So 2 tourneys down and no cash yet :(

Tomorrow is the $150 limit omaha 8

$150 p/l Omaha 8

2007-06-25T10:40:00.001-07:00

Well first of all, the walk from El Cortez to Binnions takes about 5 minutes - I felt very safe.

Over 200 for this comp which was a good turnout, 30 minute clock but with only 4000 I felt it was important to get off to a good start.

I had only bumped into NoFlops in Binnions, and when I get to my table, who do I find? Yep NoFlops!!!

What are the odds of that! lol

Well not much to say about the comp, I never hit a single flop and busted just before the first break.

Tomorrow is the $200 limit tourney.

I did play a little cash - in Binnions just to pass the time away, it was only a $1 $3 limit game but what fun.

Made more so as it was "spread" limit - wtf is that all about? lol

I did manage to make a few $'s before hitting the Bed early.

Again, coming here I have had no trouble adjusting to the time zone, but I hope that when I get home, I adjust back to UK time alot quicker than last year!

Greetings from Vegas!!

2007-06-24T13:00:00.000-07:00

Arrived in Vegas safe and sound, but not without a few hickups along the way.
I managed to talk my step dad into meeting me at my house at 5am to take me to Heathrow. We took my car and the drive down was smooth - unlike last year when I almost missed my flight!!

I check in with 2 hours to spare and decide to get some breakfast. Phone rings, its my step dad, he is on the M25 and has a puncture! In the side wall aswell so no chance of a repair - thats gonna cost me £90. Good start!

Flight to Miami went without a hitch, some sleep and 8 hours later I arrive in Miami. I have to collect my suitcase and here is where the problem starts. I have no idea where to go as I have to give them my suitcase for the next flight but my flight is not for another 6 hours!!!! The only desks I can see are for checking in, which is not want I need to do as my bags were already checked in at Heathrow for Las Vegas.

Finally find someone who tells me I need to give my suitcase to a person at checkpoint 4, which I do but the man just takes it and doesnot come back! I am unconvinced that my bag will make the next plane journey, but Fuck it, I didnt care! lol

So with 6 hours to kill I am boored shitless, cant smoke in the airport and have to go outside which is 36c - hot hot hot!

With 2 hours left, I decide to go through the security, as long as I can smoke somewhere in there. I ask the bloke on the gate and he says "yes you can smoke" so I join the que, belt off , shoes off, coins etc... into a box to be screened. All is well until I get through and you cant smoke!!! Bollox!! So with an up and coming 5 hour flight, I have another 2 hours when I cant smoke!!! I decide that I cant be bothered to go back through the security check to go outside for a smoke.

The flight was cramped, no food, no tv and I couldnt sleep, sooo booring!!! Also was 30 minutes delayed. I can honestly say that was the worse flight I have been on. Finally get to Vegas and collect my bag (phew!) and outside for a smoke, its 11.30pm and now I face a 300+ queue for Taxi's :(

Goto Orleans and meet Pab( he is letting me stay that night as I didnt check in to my Hotel until the next day), have a beer or two with him and he goes to bed, I go and play the cash game, was planning just an hour or so, but turned into a marrathon session until 3pm the next day!! So I didnt need Pab's room to sleep! lol.

So, now I am nackered, and get a taxi to Hotel and have a problem with check in cos I paid with Mums CC and they want to see the CC, even though I phoned to make sure it was ok. They would not let me check in!! I am not in the best of moods and start shouting. I am escorted to security :( . Eventually I am allowed to check in, until Monday that is when the Manager comes in to try to sort things out.

Room is VERY nice, as big as the rooms at The Orleans and for a fracture of the price, only $568 for 2 weeks - cant go wrong. I would recomend El Cortez to anyone. Food is good and cheap. Have not ventured out yet, but am going to after posting this as I am off to Binions for the $150 p/l omaha 8. I am told it is just a 10 minute walk and aparantly safe even at night!

Off now, hopefully next entry will be good news about a result in the p/l omaha 8 :)

VEGAS 2007

2007-06-19T18:05:00.000-07:00

Am playing the following for definate (and maybe others , depends on results)
Binions :
Sunday June - 24 4pm Pot-Limit Omaha 8 or better $150 4,000
Monday June - 25 2pm Limit Hold'em $200 5,000
Tuesday June - 26 2pm Limit Omaha 8 or better $200 5,000
Wednesday June - 27 2pm Seven Card Stud 8 or better $100 3,500
Thursday June - 28 2pm Limit 2-7 Triple Draw $100 3,500
Friday June - 29 2pm No-Limit Hold'em $150 4,000
Saturday June - 30 12pm Pot Limit Omaha $1,000 20,000
Sunday July - 1 4pm No-Limit Hold'em w/rebuys $100 3,500
Tuesday July - 3 2pm No-Limit Hold'em $500 10,000
Wednesday July - 4 2pm No-Limit Hold'em $500 10,000

Hopefully some nice cashes.Have not played so many live events this close but am looking foward to it, specially the Stud and 2-7 draw.

Vegas.......

2007-06-10T21:14:00.000-07:00

Well after busting out of 2 WSOP qualifiers deep with AA vs 77 and AQ vs AJ, Vegas was looking like next year for me.
But..........
With 3 VERY good live cash sessions, it is now a reality.
I am going out on the 23rd June till the 5th July.
I plan to play all the Binions comps (cept for the 2-7)
See you all out there!!

Lazy Me

2007-06-08T01:35:00.000-07:00

Where do I start?

Well I started to write down headlines of the stories I wanted to post on my blog. This "list" of headlines got to about 15 from memory thinking "I will do it later".

Later never seems to happen though. Running your own business, having a family AND playing poker does not leave much time. Consequently, my blog has not been updated for a while.

As for that "list" , some of the items are almost 3 months old now and I feel that they are probably left unsaid.

So, whats been happening with me? Well I am still playing live and online cash, with a few online tourneys. The live scene has not been happening for a month or so, usual of getting above average stack with 2 tables left and pushing for a BIG stack to take to the final and running into some "dubious" calls leaving me out just before the money. Most of these tourneys I could of got to the final table no trouble, but would of had a below average stack - which is not what I am looking for.

Having said that Mr Moves told me of a little tourney in AKMK (google for it you will find it). It was a £125 f/o with £3k guaranteed. The field was obviously small , 30 from memory and paying top 5. Ist was still £1500 so not to be sniffed at. I managed to final and progress to the last 3 where I ran into 10 10. £500 for 3rd was not too bad though. The cash action was real good though, a 50p £1 4 card omaha game. Although the blinds were small this did not deter from big pots. I sat with £100 and proceeded to do this in 2 hands! lol. So I pull another £300. I get involved with Mr Moves (who had similar stack) where I flop the nut str8 and have a redraw for the higher str8. We get it all in. Mr Moves had top 2 and a str8 draw. He filled up on the turn so that left me £400 down after about an hour! I pull another £100 and finally after 3 hours I leave with £480. I have to mention the club again. It is on an industrial estate but dont let that put you off. They look after you really well and it is dealer dealt. For anyone who is reading this and was there "I'll have a pint of fairy liquid please lol"

Back to poker, and online things have not been good over the last 5 weeks. I have dropped a shed load playing £1 £2 n/l. No bad beat stories here but some of the hands are absolute shockers. It has been a combination of cold decks, missed big draws and idiots calling and hitting with rubbish. The last 3 sessions have been £300 to the good, but I have a LONG way to go to recover the losses for the last 5 weeks!

Online I have cashed in a few tourneys (probably 50% as I have not played many) but no real cashes to note.

Plans for the coming month? Well I had planned to goto Vegas for the Binnions tourneys, from 18th June to 6th July but this looks doubtfull now. I have not given up yet though, still just over a week to find a good score. I am going to try and win a WSOP package online - where they pay you the cash. Hopefully will make it.

I have spoken to alot of people who seem to be struggling online, I think the game has changed alot in the last 4 years or so - I used to make money purely by playing tourneys, I do not think this is possible anymore and is a view shared by many.

Live cash I am getting into Dealers choice. These games are very juicy and you can turn £100 into a £1000 in a night with the right hands. Super stud is becoming one of my favorite games to play atm.

Anyway, enough ramblings. Hopefully I can do another update within the next 3 months! lol

Sick of the "little guy" being trodden on by the "Big Boys"?

2007-06-07T17:47:00.000-07:00

On June 28th Dusk till Dawn, must submit evidence it intends to use at its hearing on September 24th 2007, for a gambling license. The club must prove that there is sufficient demand in the Nottingham area to allow its existence, failing to do so will result in the end of Dusk till Dawn.
The club has many obstacles to overcome. The hearing lasts four days and in that time three casino giants, Gala, Stanley's and London Clubs International will do everything in their power to make sure the doors of the club never open.
However, there is something YOU can do about it. The best way to prove demand for the club is to show the magistrate the number of people who have signed up to become members.
So if YOU think that poker shouldn't be controlled by a few casino bosses log on to www.dusktilldawnpoker.com and sign up. It costs nothing and only takes a couple of minutes.
Rob Yong, Managing Director of DTD, says: "We have a tough struggle ahead of us but with the support of the poker community behind us I know we can be victorious."

News from DTD...........

2007-06-07T17:44:00.000-07:00

At 8.30pm June 4th DTD hosted its first ever deep stack tournament. Costing $200 + $10 to enter, the event was attended by 42 players many of whom were DTD staff or sponsored pros.
The event was attended by such players as Simon Trumper, Paul Jackson, Michael Greco and Dave Colclough.
Despite the deep stack nature of the tournament it wasn't a very long lasting event due to the aggressive nature of some of the players. The event finished at 11.49pm just over three hours later with 'Battery' emerging as weekly champion.
The final prize pool consisted of $8,400 and the top fives places were paid out:
Battery = $3,360NOflOp = $2,016Razor = $1,344Jreinhold = $1,008Doubleit = $672
DTD's own Simon Trumper just missed out on the money coming 7th and Michael Greco was awarded the wooden spoon being first out followed closely behind by DTD Managing Director Rob Yong!
If you'd like to test yourself against the DTD crew or fancy playing a deep stack tournament go to DTDPoker on June 11th before 8.30pm and enter the 'Tourney' section. The tournament is under 'DTD $200 weekly.'

Deal or no Deal ?

2007-03-26T07:32:00.000-07:00

Following my exit from Cardiff, I managed to get to Luton for the Sunday £250 f/o - although only 55 runners, still gave a 1st prize of just over £5.5k

Started off very well, but had a couple of accidents along the way- had to grind a bit and with 2 tables left, I turned on the gas - I was helped with Aces six times in 3 levels though ;)

Anyway, with the tourney only playing 9 players, we are at 11 left for a whole level, and someone suggests a saver for 10th and 11th to which I agree to speed things up. Boy how wrong was I?

It took 3 x 30 minute levels to get to the final table!!!! And by this time, the Average stack was 45k with blinds 3000 6000. I was 2nd in chips with just over 60k. Within 4 hands the guy in second place was out, AK into QQ.

With 8 left and roughly equal chips all round, I suggest an 8 way chop giving all of us £1500 which was only just shy of 3rd place money (The comp was never going to play out and would eventually end in a deal or a chip count). A good deal all round I felt, but one guy turned down the deal - which he has every right to do.

So we are down to 6 and someone else suggests another deal, and I say "no more deals while I am still in" - reasons are I felt it was highly unfair on the two players who had exited (taking circa £500) that they missed out on a grand.

Was I right or wrong to do this? Well I don't think there is a right or wrong. If people did not want to deal for £1500, I did not see it was fair to now deal for £2000.

So no deal was done, well not until I exited in 5th place for just over £800 anyway.

I assume that the last 4 did a deal and took £2.5k each.

Now anyone who knows me, or reads my blog will know I was very "ante deal". This was because I wanted to "win" my first live comp outright.
As this has now happened, I find myself more open to do deals.

GUKPT - Cardiff

2007-03-25T01:56:00.000-07:00

Following on from my run of form in Live tourneys and online cash (and live cash for that matter!) I decided to buy into the GUKPT Cardiff.

My first day was Friday, so I travelled down on the Thursday night. Arrived at around midnight, dumped my stuff at the Hotel and headed to the Casino.

After a brief walk around, and a beer (or two!) it was time to check out the cash action. One table caught my eye, it was a £2 £2 N/L game with no max sit down.
Having watched the table for an hour or so, I sat down with £400.

The table was quite tight and I soon managed to get up to almost £500 with relative ease. Then the tightest guy on the table (who had roughly £500 infront) raised to £15 UTG.
My immediate thought was "Aces" and decided to take a flop with my KQ o/s.

Flop came Q high rainbow, and tighty bets out £25. I flat call and hope to see a K or a Q - if not, I am done with this pot.
Turn card came a King!
Bingo!
It then went bet, raise, re raise, re re raise all in, call.
So now we look at almost a grand pot - with the river to come - Yep an Ace. (he did indeed have aces)
I spent the rest of the night grinding back (as well as another beer or two) to finish £150 down for the night.

It was a friendly table, with lots of good banter - Matt Tyler was there, also Pab and Julian Yo Yo to name a few.
Not the best preparation for a big event, and I got back to the hotel around 5am, but as the tourney did not start until 4pm this was not a problem.

Next afternoon came, time to shower change, then off into town to buy some new headphones. Having just got a new phone - The SE w850i, I was keen to try out the MP3 player built in. I have to say I am impressed.

Table draw and I am sat with a few familiar faces. Well things did not go too well, had decent cards for the first level but did not manage to win 2 pots in a row. This was the story of the whole day to be honest.
We started with 10,000 chips and an hour clock and it was 7 hours in when I finally had more than 10k in chips! It was that sort of day.
I was continually bouncing from 10k down to 2k. At my lowest point I had 1800 at 100 200 level and was all in fairly early position with AK diamonds, finding another short stack behind me all in for 4k and then a re raise from the Button.
Cards on their back, and I am up against A9 (shortie) and AA (the re raise).
Flop was kind to me as it came all diamonds and I took it down.
Very late in the proceedings, I get moved tables and with about 30 minutes to play for the day, and with 6k chips (blinds were 400 800) I had decided to open push into any unraised pot. This took me to almost 10k.
With 6 minutes left of the day, I find Aces and again push all in.
Vicky Coren decides to "look me up" with her 9 9.
Now, win this pot and I have over 20k and would progress to day 2.
It was not to be as the flop came J 10 7 2 8 giving VC the straight.

Although disapointed to go out, all in all a VERY tough days poker, and I was pleased to survive as long as I did with so few chips.

Hopefully I can continue my Luton form (and Cash form) so that I can buy into the Manchester leg - although this ma not be possible as I will also be playing the Luton Springfest next month.
We will see...........

Form at Luton continues..............

2007-03-15T05:09:00.000-07:00

Last night I visited Luton for the £50 one rebuy OR add on comp. The comp was 5000 chips and the rebuy/add on was 5000.
This was cut to 4000 and 4000.
I had a shaky start , dropping down to 2000 quite early on. It was at this point I decided to take my rebuy giving me 6000 chips.
I managed to survive until the first break and finished on circa 9000.
Steady poker ensued until 2 tables left when I put in quite a few re raises and took my chip stack to over average by the time I hit the final table.
Final table started off quite tight, that was until one person went out, then people started dropping like flies.
On the final table was TK, he was such a card rack, getting Aces 4 times (that he showed) as well as many other premium hands.
With 5 players left, he had well over 60% of the chips in play and was using this monster stack very well. Most seemed reluctant to challenge him, so I took on the role and managed to double up twice through him.
With 4 left he still had a commanding chip lead, but within 3 hands, he was gone in 4th place!
A very sick hand when he held Q J and flopped the nuts ( A K 10). With the other guy holding Aces all the money went in on a blank turn, only for a 10 to appear on the river. This was followed by 2 races lost and out he went.
With 3 left, blinds were 6000 12000. I had 56k and was against circa 250k and 150k stacks. The chip leader is minted and the 2nd chip leader won over £500k on the lottery a few weeks back.
The prize money was £1800 for 1st, £950 for 2nd and £540 for third.
Chip leader suggests that me and the other guy take £1000 and he takes the rest.
They both agree and although I do not like doing deals, some deals are just too good to turn down.
So with the deal agreed, it was down to one hand all in to decide the placings. I won that so it chalks up as my 2nd win at Luton.
6 visits there now (since they moved) with 4 final tables, 2 wins and a 2nd.
With this good run of form, I have decided to buy into GUKPT in Cardiff next week - hopefully the good run will continue there.........

Live Tourneys

2007-03-11T04:49:00.000-07:00

This month (and last month) I have concentrated on Live Tourneys, and just used online for Cash.

Luton being my "Local" - now moved just down the road from the old place. What a venue this is now! The Casino itself looks very nice and the cardroom is just outstounding! All new tables with plenty of room around each one. All the tables are full 9 seater tables, the downside being in self deal tourneys, it is quite hard to deal on a full table. However, this is not too much of a problem, as someone usually nominates to deal for the whole table and sits in the dealers chair.

Luton also have a new Tourney schedule (thanks to the players committe), with some real good comps. The one's I have decided to play are a £50 one rebuy OR add on (Wednesday) with 5000 starting chips and 30 minute clock, the £75 F/O (Friday) with 5000 chips and either 45 or 30 minute clock and Sundays, which rotates from a £100 p/l, £100 n/l, £100 rebuy and a £250 f/o. The sunday comps are usually 7000 chips with a 45 minute clock.

These tourneys are proving popular, and no wonder given those structures!

I played my first tourney here for a while, the £50 one rebuy or add on, and made the final table where I nursed my short stack to take it heads up - I lost the heads up and took 2nd for a nice £1180.

End of February saw me play the £75 f/o where I was struggling and found myself with just 2050 chips with blinds at 100 200. I am UTG with 99 and decide this is the hand and raise it to 900. 3 people AFTER me decide to ALL go all in. Now I know I am behind, but cannot pass. Sure enough I am up against AK, AA and KK.
Flop bought a 9 and I quadrupled up!
From there I progressed nicely until 2 tables were left (14 of us I think) and I have 35000 and am bullying the table. I am in early position and find J Q o/s and decide I am going to raise (again!), as I am counting out my chips, the guy behind me says "call" and puts in the BB of 600. He is forced to take back this bet as I have not yet acted. I announce "raise" and make it 2500. The guy THEN decides he wants to move all in for 30,000! He is told that he cannot do that as he acted out of turn and now can only call my raise, which he does.
Now I think I am in very bad shape here and ask the dealer to "flop me a good one as I seriously need help!"
Out comes the flop - 9 10 K - I flop the nuts!!
I am deciding what to do here, and as I am thinking, the guy again acts out of turn and says "All in". This was music to my ears, and I was pretty sure that if I checked, then his all in would stand. I checked and his all in did stand which I obliged and took down a nice pot. This saw me to the final table where I again make final table, this time with plenty of chips and it was soon heads up. I was determined to win this one and I was a 2-1 chip disadvantage. But with blinds of only 2000 4000 there was PLENTY of play left.
The other guy offered an even chop. Now although tempting - given the money situation , but I wanted to "win" my first live tourney so I declined the offer. This proved to be a good move as I went on to win the tourney outright for £1600.

Special mention to my buddy, Alex Martin. Me and Alex swap 15% of each other when we play at Luton at the same time, so he has made £300+ from me in 2 comps. Not bad for him.

Even better for him was the 2 times I did not goto Luton, he went on and won BOTH times!! So if I had gone to Luton those 2 nights, he would of owed me £500.

To be fair to Alex, I have given him alot of stick about this, he tried to give me £50 as he felt guilty, I declined the offer though.

Following those 2 returns in the same week, I then played the £100 f/o on the Sunday and was looking for 3 good cashes in a row. Things started off nicely and with 3 tables left I had around 20k, but then had an "accident" and lost half my stack.
Now with 10,000 and blinds of 400 800 (soon to goto 600 1200) I find 10 10 in early position and raise it up to 3000. All fold round to the BB who announces "all in" . He has circa 25K and although I do not like the call, I cannot fold in this situation. Sure enough he had KK and out I went.

One final note on live play, I am also playing in the £250 n/l table after the comps, where I am approx £800 up in the 4 times I have played.

All in all a good February, winning online, 2 nice cashes from live tourneys, and also winning in live cash games.

Long may this spell of "form" continue!!

Sky Poker on 846!!

2007-03-11T01:10:00.000-08:00

Well I managed to "blag" an invite onto Shy Poker 846. It is Sky's new Poker show where they have their "Open" tournament live on TV. (Thanks Mr Kendall!)

Filmed in a green studio, with computer graphics added. Absolutely amazing technology!

Well I set off to arrive at the studio for 6pm, but me being me (and the fact that the studio was near the M4) I arrived at around 5pm! They did not seem to mind me getting there early.

I met Sean Boyce (The presenter) and Trevor Harris (The Analyst) who were very friendly and we exchanged a few stories.

I had my make up done - very strange experience and I must say, looked awfull in normal daylight, but was assured that in the studio, it would look ok.

Next to arrive were the two celeb guests, Chris Brooks (Capital 1 DJ) and Scott Robinson (Ex "Five" member). These two were down to earth and a real laugh!

On set at around 8.30 for some rehersals, and shooting the opening scene was hilarious (thanks to Scott). Just as Sean was about to give his opening speech, Scott makes a "blowjob" sign at him which sent Sean into histerics. To be fair to Sean, he managed to recover - god knows how!! I had tears streaming from my face!

9pm soon came around and it was time to go "live". Although I was not nervous at all, I was a little apprehensive as I am usually a very quiet and withdrawn type so I was not sure how this would come accross on the TV.

Back to the Poker, it is a £10 freezeout and with just over 550 runners is quite a big field. Add to this the structure of 1500 starting chips and VERY fast blind increases (after one hour, blinds are 200 400) you have to either get lucky early on, or bully your way to a manageable stack. I managed to do the later,, and the former!

I am trying to bully the two short stacks behind me and decide to raise with A 10 o/s (see right) and make it 2000 preflop. Unfortunately I run into A J who moves all in for another 300 odd which I call.

Flop does not look too exciting, but then the turn brings me some more outs and then that miracle river giving me the straight flush! What a luck box! lol

From here I managed to progress into the money , but then the luck I had on that straight flush hand came back to bite me on the arse! I am in the BB with KK (roughly 10,000 chips) and it is folded round to the SB who pushes for 11k. I call and they have A 5.

No, the ace does not hit, but the get runner runner for a straight and I am out.

Pleased with the way I played in the tourney and then I am entered into a "Celeb" sit and go which I also manage to win!

I would like to thank Tony Kendall (who got me the invite) and the Sky poker team (who were fabulous). It was a wonderfull experience and one I would be more than happy to do again.

If any of you get an invite, jump at it! You will have a blast, trust me!!

APAT Welsh Championship

2007-03-10T23:41:00.000-08:00

Staff at Cardiff did a wonderfull job

Many many thanks Sean who gave a bottle of Bubbly as a consolation prize for the bubble boy - Yes it was me

Brendan looked so upset at his 14th place finish - VWD Brendan.

I met a few new faces there, and I must make a special mention to James - aka sofaking . What a top bloke he is!!!!! So unlucky to exit in hand 3 wasnt it??

Kev, I let you win that STT - just being nice to you lol

The tourney was a great success, maybe the clock/blinds could of been better, but I am not knocking APAT at all - it is soooo hard to organise a tourney and they have done a great job.
From 32 places left, it did end up a little bit hit and miss as the average stack had 10xBB - just a comment, and not meant as a critisism.
The standard was again poor which made th first few levels a minefield where you HAD to hit the flop and hit it hard as not many would put down top pair no matter how much you bet. I sat out the first 4 levels and had blinded down to 7500. Managed to quickly get to 20k (as the blinds were 200 400) and then to a comfortable 40k, then 91k (with 9 4 in the BB when I turned 2 pair against the guy with top pair).
32 returned and with 22 getting paid it was going to be tough. Sherrif had 80k and did not manage to make the money. I had 62k and struggled. Finally took a stand (36500) UTG when blinds had got to 6000 12000 with A 5 suited. Got an all in re raise from late position to 80k and the BB woke up with a hand and asked for a chip count of the 2nd all in. By this time I had left the table and stood watching from a distance. When the BB took 5 minutes to decide to call, I wondered back over to the table. The re raise all in guy turned over K 5 o/s and I suddenly felt a bit more confident, until the BB (the guy who took 5 minutes to call) turns over Aces!!!!
He was not slow rolling, he was honestly thinking of passing for fear of being the bubble boy. He need not have worried as his Aces held up.
All in all very pleased with my play, disapointed to be bubble, but ................. what a fantastic weekend away.

Update on online cash play

2007-03-10T23:08:00.000-08:00

Well the online cash games have been up and down for February. I was £700 up on 11/02/07 and I finished the month £1,377 up, which is just over £344 per week.

I am now playing £1 £2 tables - a quick jump up, but if I have a major downswing, then I will drop down but so far so good.

One session to note (well one that sticks out in my mind). It was the day before I was travelling down to the APAT event in Cardif (more on that later) and I played for around 25 minutes on 3 tables. I always "autopost" and this first table I am dealt 4d 6d and raise to £12. One guy in late position decides to re raise another £12. Ooops I thought, but have to call. Flop comes 6 6 9. Now I have him on overpair and manage to get a double up (£200 up). VERY next hand I am in the BB and have suited Ace. Anyway, I am involved in a pot with the same guy (who has rebought) and I hit the nut flush on the river - with him hitting 2nd nut flush so he stacks me again! (£400 up in 2 hands!) . Now this guy aint too happy!!
In the meantime on one of the other tables - I have AQ and see a flop of Q high. Turn bought another Q and he bets hard into me. I thought maybe he had hit a FH, and knowing I had the Q that he would get paid, but decided to push.
He called in a flash and sure enough he had a FH - then the river comes an Ace and I make a higher FH!! . Incidently this was against the same guy I had stacked twice on the other table!!
Well I managed to win a few more hands and eventually left that session just under £650 up - Not bad for 25 minutes work!!
Biggest loosing session in February was for £456.

The swings are fairly big, but seem to be sustainable at the moment.

February so far........

2007-02-11T19:12:00.000-08:00

With that influx of scandies that I just couldn't beat, I decided to move to the 50p £1 tables which I was told were much softer.

And indeed they are.

I am still 4 tabling ( when not playing a tourney , then its only 2 cash tables) and so far to date (11/02/07) I am up just over £700.

I plan to do a monthly post from now on, not detailing each week. Although I will still mention any big winning or loosing weeks.

Played a few more tourneys so far this month, both online and live as well as some more GUKPT qualifiers (again no luck here).
Online MTT's I have FT in 4 out of 8 played, but no higher than a 4th place.

Live, I ventured to the Broadway for the £100 rebuy. Great comp with 2 x 45 minute rebuys, then hour levels all the way through. 3000 starting stack.
I played my ususal way in these, that is to see many cheap flops with the first 1500 chips, and if no good, then rebuy another 3000 giving me 4500 - this was exactly what happened.
At the end of the rebuy, I took my add on (£300 invested) which gave me just shy of 13000 chips.
It was all going well, with the slower structure I really enjoy.
One hand was my undoing. I had J Q hearts in the small blind, and it was raised (just over min raise) from late position. I decided to see a flop, so did the big blind.
Flop came 2 hearts - all low cards.
I check, BB checks and the raiser throws out a continuation bet. Now for some odd reason I only flat called?!??! As soon as I had done it, I knew it was a mistake. I should of re raised here.
The BB folds.
Turn was a blank and having made the first mistake, I then made the 2nd mistake by not pushing in.
It was checked all the way and I lost to K high.
Although it was not such a great loss chipwise, it was confidence wise and I finally made a stand with AQ in the BB against the SB raise - who had to call. They had A9 and hit the 9.

I have also bought into the APAT event in Cardif in 2 weeks time. Hoping for a better result than the 1st one I played in, the standard is not great and is very hard (almost impossible) to get people to lay hands down, but you get paid off when you hit a monster.

Back to the cash tables for now...........

January 2007

2007-02-11T19:03:00.000-08:00

Well the new years resolution is now in swing (well almost, but more on that later)

I have concentrated on cash games, playing 4 tables of 50c $1 but soon moved to $1 $2.

Results for first 4 weeks :

Week 1 : +£386
Week 2 : +£50
Week 3 : +£300
Week 4 : -£1030

Eeeeek at week 4!!!! What happened was that DTD had an influx of LAG scandies, so I found myself with at least 3 (and more often than not , 5) at each table.
After a week of trying various tactics, I just could not beat them, so I decided to give the cash a break for a day or two and play some tourneys.

Played the £15k and £40k on DTD, making 2 final tables from 4 in the £15k but only small cashes, although in the £40k i had the chip lead with 90 left and managed to blow it.

I also played live at Luton in the £75 f/o making final table, but again, only a low finish.
Have tried real hard to qualify for GUKPT in Walsall, but failed so it will have to be the next one for me. As to weather I will try and qualify or buy in direct, it depends on the cash results.

I am going to get some tutoring from a well known winning N/L cash player real soon, which should boost the results.

Oh, one other MTT played in January was the DTD new sign up freeroll, where I again managed to final table, but missed out on the money.

Seems to be a problem of late in MTT's - making final tables but not getting the job done.

Want a $15k WSOP Package?

2006-12-28T11:01:00.000-08:00

I am sure most (if not all) would say "YES".

Well I have a possible way - absolutely free!!

DTD Online poker are running a $25k freeroll on 4th February at 7pm, where the first prize is a $15k WSOP package

The rest of the $10k will be distributed as a normal tourney.

All you have to do to be eligble for this great value freeroll is to download DTD poker using either the banner at the top of my blog, or the small banner under "links" - and setup an account. You will also have to deposit some funds, and start playing to earn 400 MPP's (approx 8 hours of cash play).

So, what do you have to loose??? - Nothing
And to gain?? - Well maybe a $15k WSOP package.

£150 f/o at Stanleys

2006-12-28T02:36:00.000-08:00

Wanted to go and play the £75 f/o at Luton on Boxing Day, but also wanted to spend time with the Family (Well it is Christmas!). With 2 hours to make my mind up, I did the decent thing and poured a "large" glass of Vodka/RedBull - making my mind up for me.

So, with a £150 f/o at Stanleys the next day, decided to give this a bash.

Having never been to Stanleys, I did not know what to expect.

Was I in for a disapointment. Max of 6 tables AND SELF DEAL!! Had I of known this, I would not even considered going. I dont think I will be going back anytime soon either.

So with 40 players (the prize pool said 39, but thats another point) it was a 10,000 point comp with 30 min blinds.

I eventually wnet out 11th with a push from UTG with JJ , but the BB called over half his stack with KQ and duly hit.

On the online front, I have managed to gain 500+ MPP's on DTD poker (As well as the Rake back, this ALSO gives me £10 credit to use in DTD live club. 0.02p per MPP) with relative ease (2 x 3 hour sessions) showing a small loss but it is early days. I am still keen to carry out my "plan" for my poker in the new year.

First Venture into DTD Online MTT's

2006-12-24T05:58:00.000-08:00

Had a bash at the £12k guaranteed last night (£50 buy in). My Fisrt MTT on DTD poker.
Got off to a shaky start, but proceeded to double up twice mid comp to give myself a good stack, but things went horribly wrong and was short stacked again. In fact I was short stacked upto the money (top 20 paid).
Then it was time to take on the gamblers. Funny how when people make the money they are inclined to just move all in with nothing (as 20th was same money as 11th). Worked out well for me as 3 times I had monster hands which all held up.
With the final table approaching, I decided to take a HUGE gamble against the c/l with my pocket 9's. He had been raising constantly and I moved all in over the top, to which he called and showed AQ. My pair held up and I was now 2nd in chips.
Final table came, and apart from one slight accident (where I slipped down to 6th) I remained in 2nd spot.
With 4 left, the comp was very tough. C/L had circa 300k, I had circa 130k and the two others had circa 30k (approx 8 BB's). The C/L was pressuring us with great effect, and I did not want to go against him again without a premium hand. Luckily enough for me, he did let off a few hands and I duly applied the pressure to the two small stacks taking one of them out.
It was soon heads up, with him having approx 5 to 1 c/l on me. With £2500 for 2nd and £3700 for 1st, it was still to play for.
He was very aggressive (as I expected him to be) and constantly moved over the top of me to any raise - except for the 3 times when I actually WANTED him to come over the top, he folded!
I did manage to get up to neally 200k which meant one more double up and I took the c/l. But it didnt happen. I finally moved all in with 3 4 - he called with AQ which held up and I took 2nd.
Pleased with my game, and the outcome - not bad for my 1st MTT on DTD.
Made a change for my hands to stand up, and 50 50's to go my way.
Good start to my plan, as I now have a bit of a roll to play with.
This comp was also the last in a series of comps comprising of a leaderboard. Top 250 get extra cash and also a freeroll for 3 EPT seats.
I was VERY suprised to find that after just one comp, I was 80th!! So thats another extra $200 - It all counts!
Shame the leaderboard is now finished, seems it wasn't too hard to make top 10!
I am in a couple of SATS soon, one for Aussie Millions, one for WPT.
Thinking of making another stab at the $1mill on Stars tonight - Ive had 4 out of 5 cashes so far in this, but nothing major - hoping for better tonight.

Goals for 2007

2006-12-20T08:26:00.000-08:00

I saw a thread on a forum and it got me thinking.

I have had a terrible run of form for a few months (this also includes playing badly sometimes) which has resulted in a serious downswing in the bankroll. This had a knock on effect of playing less cash - which is where (I feel) the REAL money is to be made. Sure, you can make a profit playing tournaments only (as I did for the first 3 years).

As I do not play fulltime, and poker is not my main source of income, my bankroll management skills are not upto par - purely because they dont have to be. This has caused me to go "skint" online twice this year.

So my main objective in 2007 is to start treating my poker like a business rather than a hobby (albeit a profitable one).

Just before I qualified for the WSOP this year I had circa $25k online (which I built up from playing freerolls, then a couple of STT's then a nice tournament win) and was playing $5 $10 and $10 $20 no limit. I was making nice profit playing these levels - elbeit way out of a bankroll of $25k.

Now dont get me wrong, i HAVE withdrawn during the year (from the $25k) to pay for luxuries and buyins for live events, but this again was just a further drain on the bankroll and to be honest, a bad month then left me "chasing" - A MORTAL SIN!!!

So, I intend to play cash online during the week (within my bankroll), and use 1/4 of the profits for tournament poker for the weekend and the following week, transfer 1/4 of the profits to Neteller thus keeping 1/2 of profits to add to the Bankroll. When tournament results occur, I plan to transfer 1/2 of the win to Neteller and add 1/2 to the bankroll. This, hopefully, will result in a nice tidy sum accumulating in Neteller - which I shall use for live events, uk festivals etc... while also allowing my bankroll to continually increase.

Well thats the plan anyway. To encourage me to stick to this, I intend to post my monthly results on here as well as keeping my spreadsheet going.

DTD Online Launch!!

2006-12-11T08:47:00.000-08:00

DTD Online launches tomorrow (12th December)

If anyone wants an account setup, let me know and I can arrange this for you.

Apologies...........

2006-12-06T16:50:00.000-08:00

I must confess to being a little lazy in the updating department, and for those that read this I apologise.

I have many articles to publish, all of which should be up by this weekend.

One thing I will mention now though, is that DTD online poker room will launch next week! WATCH THIS SPACE

The journey home...........

2006-08-16T04:33:00.000-07:00

When in Reno two years ago, I stayed awake the night before my flight, slept all the way home and after one day I was back into UK time.
With the same plan in mind I againd stayed awake the night before.
Taxi to the airport at 12 noon and my flight was at 4pm.

Got to the airport to hear that my flight was delayed for 8 hours!!!!!

With only one shop open at the airport, it was gonna be a long 8 hours. Determined not to sleep, I met up with Pab (Paul) and Gee (Dave) and we discussed various poker hands.

Finally boarded the plane, managed some sleep but not as much as I had hoped for. Finally landed at Gatwick at around 5pm.
By the time we got the bags, it was 6pm
I now had to drive to Hemsbey (North Norfolk Coast) to pick up the family who had been on holiday there.
After the 2 days I had had, this was a LONG drive, and after loading the car up, it was time to drive back home to Cambridge.
Finally arrived home at around 12 midnight - totally shattered , I thought I would sleep for ages, but was suprised when I woke up at 2am :(

It is now 4 days I have been home and I am still suffering badly from Jetlag.
Hopefully it wont be long now.

Off to the DTD party friday night so looking foward to that.

Have not played any poker since my return, but am going to try and qualify for Aruba - havent tried as yet as I thought it was "taking the piss" on my family - but the good wife has convinced me to give it a try.

Hopefully the next Blog will be from Aruba!!!

With the $1800...........

2006-08-16T04:26:00.000-07:00

I noticed that there was a $10,000 tourney at The Belagio which gave 20,000 chips and a 90 minute clock - first was almost $1million. I so wanted to play this, but the $10k was out of my bankroll.
There were 2 super sats and I decided to give these a go. Missed the first one, so with one chance left, I paid my $1000 and entered the super sat. With close to 350 entrants there were 30odd seats up for grabs.

3000 starting stack and 40 minute clock - you had to have a good start.
I started ok, but with no hands to mention, was just surviving. With 45 left and the blinds going up, I had less than 7xBB (and with a running ante) I had to make a move BEFORE I was BB again.

Well a guy in early position raises 3xBB and is called by the chip leader. I look down and find pocket 9's. I felt I was probably behind, or racing at best but with me being BB very soon, I felt I couldnt pass and pushed all in. The guy next to me called my all in. So did the other 2.

So with a chance to quad up, I had to win this hand and I knew I would get my $10,000 seat.
Flop came 10 6 2 rainbow.
Both the origional raiser and the caller checked - I felt I was almost certainly ahead. But then the guy to my left says "all in" and I knew I was behind.
The other two passed and he flips over JJ
"Just one time" i was syaying to myself "please give me a 9"
But alas, no 9 came and I was out.

After this, i was totally pokered out and was ready to come home, but still had 4 days left

Poker after the WSOP main event

2006-08-16T04:15:00.000-07:00

Having taken 2 days off from poker, following my exit from the WSOP main event. I had been told of the $1000 MTT's at the Belagio and thought I would give these a bash.

I turn up at the Belagio and play a STT for $240 (with a $60 saver for 3rd) as 2 tickets to the $1000 were on offer, but what a crap shoot. 1500 chips and 10 minute levels, I found myself having to go all in with 99 and was beaten by JJ.

So off to the cage to buy into the $1000.

5000 chips with a 40 minute clock and a good structure meant for plenty of play.

I got off to a good start, doubling my stack quite early on.

With 169 entrants and 18 being paid with 1st getting neally $60,000 I was looking foward to a nice pay day.

With 27 left I suffered a huge blow when my overpair ran into someone who hit a set on the river and I found myself short stacked with the BB on me in two hands.
Very next hand I pick up AA and shove all in - got called by 33 and survived.
Manage to increase my stack to just over average and with 18 left was in the money - allbeit basically your buyin back + a bit. The difference from 18th to 10th was $600 from memory.

Down to 14 left and still with over average stack, when I was BB, the UTG (who also had over average stack, just more than me) kept moving all in.
I had passed A10, 55, KQ, 44
The 5th time running he did the same again - he did not play any other hand, not even his BB. The only play he had was "all in" under the gun - which happened to be my big blind.
So after 5 times, I was getting a little annoyed to say the least.
"I will let you have this one more, but DONT do it again"
Well the 6th time came, and again he goes "all in" It is folded round to me and I find AQ (Both black), now normally I would still fold, feeling that with over average stack, I had plenty of play left. BUT this was now the 6th time running he had done this. So I called.
Now playing for a big pot (3rd in chips) he turns over KQ (both black)
How good do you want it? He had 3 K's to hit and one possible 4 card flush.
Flop came 3 diamonds , turn was another diamond, so he now only had 2k's he could hit as the Kd would give a split pot.
Then BANG - the river comes and he hits one of the two remaining Kings and my tourney was over.
Had I of won that pot, I was confident of making top 3 (if not winning it).
Still $1800 but was a little disapointed to say the least.

Day 2 WSOP

2006-08-16T03:58:00.000-07:00

Well day 2 did not go as smooth as day 1. By that I mean I was totally relaxed and focused for day 1. Day 2 was a different story.

Although I was still focused, I was a little flustered. When I arrived at The Rio, I had forgot what my new table number was, so it was a case of walking around to try and "jog" my memory. After approx 15 minutes, I remembered where I was sitting. I went to the table, sat down, showed my ID and proceeded to tear open the bag. "Stop" said the dealer, "I need to see your blue receipt card first" "What blue receipt card?" I said. "The one you got at the end of day 1" he replied.
SHIT, I couldnt remember what I had done with it, and I was not allowed to open my bag of chips without it. 1 minute before "shuffle up and deal" and I still could not find this damn receipt card. Now I was panicing, but the TD came over and said "Have you seen any ID?" "OK that is good enough"
"Phew" and I opened my bag of just under15000 chips and was now ready to play.
I had it in my mind that I wanted to get off to a fast start, I was going to call raises with any 2 suited/connecting cards and if I hit a draw, I was gonna push all in.
Well after 3 or 4 raises called, I missed every flop and soon found myself down to 11k - not the start I wanted.
After about 4 hours, still on the same chips and the blinds now increasing, I told myself that any pair and I was pushing all in (regardless of any raise infront of me).
Well this one hand sticks in my mind, I was on the button and a loose player makes a standard raise in mid position, and the guy next to them also called the raise (3000 from memory). I am saying to myself "any pair and I am pushing". I look down to see a 2, "no" I thought, please dont let me see another 2. I did not want to push with a pair of 2's but knew I would be tempted. I squeezed the other card and sure enough it was another 2.
I pondered for a while, counted out my chips, not sure of weather to push or not. But in the end decided to fold. When the SB then re raised to 9000 I was feeling better about the fold. And felt sure I had made the correct decision when the BB then re raised all in for 35000. The origional raiser and caller both passed but the SB called the all in. On their backs was AA and KK - The AA held up.
I was feeling so good about not pushing all in for my remaining 11000 but then came the flop - I could of died :(
10 2 2 - I would of flopped quads and would have been on close to 40,000 chips.
The next hand of note was my exit hand. It was the very next hand i was on the button and the same player who had made a 3000 raise before, made the same raise again. No one else called and I look down to find AA.
Excellent!! I went through EXACTLY the same routine I had on the round before, counting my chips, looking like I didnt know what to do. Then after 4 minutes or so - I pushed all my chips in.
All folded to the origional raiser - who convinced himself I didnt have a hand and said "this is a loose call, but i call" That was all I needed to hear and proudly turned over my Aces. Hoping to see them have A9 or something similar, but no, they had Q 7 of diamonds.
I got that "oh no" feeling when I saw both of his cards were diamonds.
Please please black flop - i thought.
Flop came with 2 diamonds :(
I was up and out of my chair - I knew it was coming.
The turn came 7
I could see a river also being a 7, but it was the J diamonds and my WSOP was over.

The TV crew was at my table as the chip leader was also there, and they filmed my exit , with TV camera in my face which followed me out of the hall. No idea weather it will make the TV and quite honestly, I am not bothered either way.

Those two hands, although I feel I played them correctly were my demise. Had I have played those two hands wrong, I would of been probably of 60,000 and very healthy to make day 3.

All in all I enjoyed the WSOP main event and found the structure to be excellent - ROLL ON NEXT YEAR!!!!

More Cash Game play

2006-07-31T23:55:00.000-07:00

The day after , and when I finally awake, I later find myself in the $1 $2 n/l cash game with Mr Moves and Pab.
We had such a laugh, but I dont think that the locals found it very amusing. There was a lot of banter, lots of straddles and re raising blind.
One hand I made the usuall straddle, and told Pab that if he raised me, I was going to re raise him blind. Well sure enough, he raised to around $15 (he was also blind) so I re raised it to $60 (still blind). He says to me I am going to go all in blind, will you call? Yes I replied. So he went all in and I called.
So, both of us blind and a $400-$500 pot, the flop was mostly low cards with a 2. Pab turns over K high and feels quite confident. Then I flip over my cards and find a 2 to take the pot!
All 3 of us were trying to dominate each other and me and Mr Moves got involved in a pot (after I had re raised him on the flop so many times and showed the bluff). This time he flopped an open ended str8 draw and I had a set. This time we ended up all in and he hit the str8.
To cut a long story short, I finally left that game at 9.30am over $1400 up - not bad for a $1 $2 n/l game (max sit down was $300) and as I had alot of chips, I was making it at least $20 to see a flop. The locals got very fed up and continued to donate to me :)
Such a laugh Pab, Mr moves and myself had.
Although I kept telling Pab to go to bed as he was playing his first day of the main event in less than 8 hours.

Well thats enough for now, just got back from yet another $1 $2 n/l session ($200 down this time) am going to bed ready for day 2 of the main event tomorrow. Fingers crossed.

Shuffle up and deal!!

2006-07-31T23:18:00.000-07:00

Early to bed (by 10pm) and awake at 6.30am - So totally refreshed for day one of the main event.

I thought I may be a little nervous, but it was the total opposite. I felt VERY confortable, I wasnt star struck, either by other players or by the event itself. All I saw was the table I was playing on.

The first 2 hour level saw me with no cards and I wasnt going to get cute with marginal hands, so I think I was only involved in one flop on my BB that was unraised.

First break came and went, 5 minutes into the next level and boy did i go on a rush of cards. I had AA 3 times, KK twice and QQ twice all in the space of 3 rounds!! Most I picked up the blinds uncontested with the Aces, but had to lay the Kings down on the flop both times, as the flop bought and Ace - to which I bet out and got re raised both times. One of the QQ hands was where I ALMOST took down a nice big pot. I was BB and the guy on the button made it 200 to go , I look down and find QQ - re raise to 600 and he calls. Flop comes 2 7 Q rainbow - and I bet out 800 (trying to make out I had AK and was a continuation bet). I could see he wanted to re raise me sooo bad, but in the end he folded muttering "I know I have you beat but...."
Another hand worth a mention was when I was holding 10 10 on a flop of 8 5 2. Action had happened preflop and post flop, but when the guy re raised me 4000, I was convinced my 10's were no good and he had an overpair so I layed it down - He showed me JJ.
I felt so confident and was on top form managed to get to 14k quite early on, then went on a spree of very very bad plays - calling raises out of position, leaking chips etcc...... and found myself under 8k again -
Disgusted with myself, I got up and went and sat outside for an hour to "cool off" and to regroup - I am 100% sure that if I had not done this I would of definately donked off the remaining 8k.

On my return, I am under the gun with 7-8k ish and find JJ. What to do??? Well I decided to limp, dont hit a J on the flop and fold to strong betting.
Well the guy to my immediate left raised it to 800 (4xBB) and I just felt he had a monster hand (Aces or Kings) but decided to call to see if I could hit my set. The flop came all low cards and I bet out 1200 and he called so quick that now I knew he had Aces or Kings. Well the miracle turn came, a Jack also now making a flush draw. I checked, He bet 2500 and I pushed all in for my remaining 5k or so. He called with KK and got no help.
From there I was up and down between 19k and 12k, couldnt seem to get past 19k and finally finished the day on 14.5k - So day 2 made.

If you said to me, that I could go straight to day 2 with 15k chips I would of bit your hand off!! So all in all very happy with my play (apart from the dodgy spell)

Just like to also say that the bagging process was a complete farce!! Taking over an hour.

Finally Registered

2006-07-29T06:38:00.000-07:00

Went to the Rio on Friday to Register, and for those that have never been, the place is HUGE!!!!

Finally found the Ultimate Bet VIP lounge where I collected my "bag of goodies" which for free was pretty good. A sports bag containing 2 pens, 2 vip badges, a black hoody, a black T shirt, a black polo shirt, a black long sleeeve T shirt, an orange T shirt and my favorite an orange/black american style long sleeve footbal top. All with UB logo's of course.

Found the registration desk, and am on table 41 seat 9.

"Other" people were not allowed into the poker room, I had wanted to go in and just get a feel for the room before I play tomorrow. So, after a quick walk around the expo it was back to the hotel.

I had played 2 sessions of hi/lo (only $4 $8 limit) and finished the first session $100 up and the second session $55 down - so still in profit.
No spaces in the hi/lo game but I noticed a $1 $2 n/l game that looked a little juicy and decided to give that a whirl.
Sat down with $300 and quickly turned this into just under $500 which I soon found all in on the turn on a board of 8 4 4 2. I was holding K 4 from the SB and with plenty of action on the flop, I check raised all in on the turn and got one caller - the BB holding 9 4.
Yep river 9 so it was a reload of $300.
Not too many notable hands to mention except running AA into a made set of 2's on a low flop . At which point I decided to retire. A quick bite to eat and in bed by 10pm.

Well it is now 6.40am local time and I am starting to feel very excited, I thought I would feel nervous, but not at all. I think this time will drag now, although I plan to get to the Rio at 11am (hopefully to avoid the main hustle and bustle of everyone else arriving). As for what to do now? I may go to the gym, then the sauna and just relax.

I have seen a few US stars, Freddie Deeb, Layne Flack, Mike the Mouth to mention a few. I did also manage to walk past Brian Wilson, but by the time I had realised who it was, I lost sight of him in the croud.

So far, UB have been very good. And their private party they threw at the Voodoo Lounge in the Rio must of cost an absolute fortune! It was well worth going just for the view as the voodoo lounge is ontop of the Rio (51 floors up) and with 2 outside balcony's was just superb. Excelent food as well.

"shuffle up and deal"...................................................

VEGAS!

2006-07-27T15:24:00.000-07:00

Well here at last, but sadly alone (long story, but with 6 kids, babysitters are hard to come by).

Nightmare start. My flight was at 10.45am from Gatwick (Virgin Direct to Vegas), and as it takes approx 2hrs from Cambridge I left at 5.30am. Did not sleep the night before hoping to sleep on the plane.

All was going well, travelling down the M11 , satnav says eta of 7.15) then announcement on the Radio, "M11 southbound closed" Hmmmmm great.

Sure enough it was. 60 mile diversion which went through lots of road works. Finally got to the M25 and wanting to go east, but no, the eastbound join was also closed!! So that meant a 30 mile round trip the wrong way round the M25 - and yep you guessed it, the WHOLE 30 miles was roadworks (15mph at most!!). So now the satnac has eta of 9.15am and getting later all the time. Not the best of times to be on M25 and indeed I did not reach Gatwick till 10.05!!!! Had not phoned home and no time to do so

So there was me, running to checkin only to find a queue of around 300 people. With only 35 minutes before my flight leaves I just walk right to the front of the Queue and check in (dirty looks all round but who cares!)

Through security, I see my gate number of 36 - and also see Gate 36 is closing!!! The board says leave 20 minutes to get to gate 36. 20 minutes?!?!? OMG!!! So off I run again. Just making it onto the plane. Now I knew Charmaine would be worried, but nothing I could do about it, just had to hope she realised I got onto the plane. Would phone as soon as I landed in Vegas

So, covered in sweat, no smoke for the last 1.5hrs and a journey of 10 hours ahead, I settle into my seat with my DVD player and the films I had put onto dvd that morning. I plug my dvd power lead in and look for the electric point but cannot find one. I ask someone who tells me that only business class have electric points. So that meant no DVD's to watch :(

An hour went by and we had not moved, aparantly there was a problem with the baggage so I need not have ran at all.

Finally got away only to have an extra 2 hours added to the flight time to avoid bad weather. I slept on and off but managed to see some of the spectacular views when approaching Vegas. As far as you could see, there was nothning, absolutely nothing!! Baron mountainous wasteland, with the odd lake, surrounded with golf courses and houses.

Landed at Vegas, got to the immigration desk and as I was at the back of the plane, I was at the back of the queue!! 1 hour later, with only 30 odd people infront of me, the electric goes in the airport. Takes around an hour for the immigration computers to get back online. Finally collect my bags and I have to say the immigration at Vegas was superb, no need to unpack any of my items (unlike Reno last year) and I stepped outside and boy!! What a shock!! Now I knew it was hot here, but just didnt realise just how hot! It was litterally like standing infront of an oven with the door open. Tried to phone home on my mobile but for some reason it wasnt working, although I did manage to send a TXT so that made me feel better knowing that Charmaine would now know I was ok. Got taxi to The Orleans, got the internet working and phoned home. Was great to hear her voice - travelling alone does get very lonely especially when you have left your family at home.

I visited the Belagio and watched the likes of Phil Ivey, Tod Brunson, Barry Greinstein playing high limit cash. Then onto Ceasers to play the $100 (with one $100 rebuy) comp as I was told it was the best value tourney in Vegas.
Well, best value? I doubt it. Although at first it seemed great value as you start with 1500 but with the rebuy made it 4500 chips. The blinds was what killed the game 25 50 : 50 100 : 100 200 (with 25 ante) : 200 400 (with 50 ante) : 400 800 (with 100 ante).
300 people enterd which made for a tasty prize pool and I was surviving nicely until the blinds reached 400 800 and with only 7000 chips had one move. This was working ok until i lost a race with AQ vs 99.

Bumped into many people here, not been to The Rio yet, but plan to go there Friday.

Thats all for now..........

WSOP 2006

2006-02-13T12:24:00.000-08:00

I wanted to qualify for this event this year, having been close on a seat for the last 2 years.
Looking around the various sites I play on, I liked the look of Ladds giving you additional $1500 ebtry to another event other than the main event. I also liked UB, where the first 150 qualifiers are entered into a VIP freeroll to win an additional $25k bankroll and special VIP travel and accomodation (top 3 I believe win this). Also Blue Square - being my main site, doing the usual $198 rebuy with fields of around 40 players - usually giving 2 or 3 seats.
Well I had no success on Ladds, my fault.
Tried a $300 on UB, but fell short of the final table.
Then came a new addition on UB, a $1000 MTT. With around 100 runners, giving 8 seats (approx) . I spotted a $100 feeder to this and decided to give it a bash.
On the same night was the $198 rebuy on BlueSq.
So, I open up both tables, together with a $10 $20 n/l table on BlueSq (to keep me occupied in the early levels of the MTT's)
Well, UB was a bit of a disaster, 5 minutes into the comp, the blinds went up! It was a speed tourney!!! OH Dear, I thought. And I drafted an email to customer support asking for my buy in back as it was never advertised as a speed tourney.( i would send this as soon as I was knocked out).
Well I never sent the email, as I qualified :)
Meanwhile, the cash game on BlueSq was going well and I was up to $4k (without a reload).
The WSOP went okish, with 3 rebuys and an add on - got quite expensive. With 20 left I had KQ on a flop of A Q Q. Turn was a blank - All in and called. River was an Ace, but it didnt matter anyway as the other guy had slow played his Aces - so I was never infront.
Oh well, i thought, always next week as well as the UB one I had qualified for.
Speaking of the UB one, I better check when it is. OMG!!! its at 3am that morning!! (by this time it was 12.30am)
I had been playing since around 8pm and was tired. But decided not to sleep for 2 hours as I would be even more tired. So I decided to keep on the $10 $20 table until the tourney on UB started.
This proved a good move, and I had reached $5.6k but left with $5k as the UB tourney started.
With 170 odd runners, UB produced 13 seats and a bit of money for 14th and 15th.
All went well until around 20 left and I found myself getting short.
I flopped top pair on a J high board from the BB. Check Check it went. Turn was a 5. I was confident I was ahead and check raised to leave myself with 6xBB. Well this didnt go down too well and the guy moved over the top of me. I folded. (So much for my confidence that I was ahead) He showed KK.
Now short stacked, and sitting in 20th place with now 4xBB I had no choice but to go all in on any 2 okish cards. UTG i found A8 suited and in it went. Chip leader flat calls me. Oh dear I think and sure enough he turns over AK.
I am in bad shape, till the 8 hits the flop and it holds.
Then in the BB I see a flop for free and hit top two pair and the turn makes me the nut FH. All in infront of me and I call - double up again.
SB I hit flush and get paid once again!
So from 20th place to 5th and confortable in chips. I decide not to play another hand.
This proved to be a good move and I got my seat!!
Also was 91st person to qualify, so I've made the VIP freeroll aswell.
WSOP 2006 here I come!

European Rankings

2006-01-27T08:42:00.000-08:00

Well with my success (well a final table anyway) in Omaha at the grand challenge, I checked out the European rankings and I am ranked 10th in Europe for Omaha!!! LOL

If I can get to play more omaha events, I will attempt to keep in the top 10 - its a goal I have set myself.... watch this space..............................

THE Best Table I have played on................

2006-01-27T08:17:00.000-08:00

It has to be without doubt, the table I was on for the £1000 main event at the Grand Challenge in Luton recently.

When we all sat down, I knew it was gonna be fun, but I didnt realise just how much fun!!
On the table were Simon Nowab (always banter between us two), Paul Parker (met him before and knew he could talk), Ian Woodley (played with him before, ALWAYS at it!!) and Paul Zimbler (Played with a couple of times).

Well I was in for a treat. It didnt feal at all like a £1000 comp, I was very relaxed and enjoyed the banter emensely.
Me and Simon have a history (all be it a short one) . At the Blonde Bash, we were on the same table, first hand I raised and bet the flop and took the pot. Simon rplied "Oi!! I am table captain!! Less of that please! I am going to raise your BB blind EVERYY time!" Well he did, but unfortunately for him I had KK - but thats another story.
Simon started off very aggressive, as always. I had it in my mind to get involved as often as I could and gave myself 2500 out of the 10000 as 'gambling chips'. There was this one time, I called Simon's early position raise with 5 7 o/s (from the button) . Flop came 5 6 7. I just let him bet into me (as I knew he would) and I just kept calling. I knew I had him, but then the river came an 8 and I knew i was in trouble, but the bet on the end was soo small, I had to call. Simon had Q 9.
Another hand I had called a raise by Simon, I had 7 2 o/s (again on the button) but this time Paul parker was in the pot as well. Flop came K high, Simon continues his bet, called by Paul and I also called. The turn came another K. All checked. Now at this point I wasnt sure if any of them had the K so I checked. I knew if Simon didnt have it, he would come out betting the pot on the river. Well the river came, and out bets Simon (and yes, a pot size bet). I already had it in my mind to re raise him say 3xpot to take it and then show him the 7 2 o/s. But Paul parker flat called Simon. At this point I thought Paul had the K so I folded.
Simon says to Paul "If youve got the K I am gonna twat you!!" Paul turned over one card, an Ace and siad thats good enough to take it isnt it? And you know what, it was!! Paul took that pot with an Ace high. If only I had had the balls to re raise BOTH of them, that pot was mine. Well with this, Simon was on Pauls case!! Was sooo funny to see Paul turn over just an Ace and say "thats good enough isn't it?" and see Simon muck his cards lol.
I was feeling confident with my reading after this and proceeded to take a pot from Ian Woodley (who didnt seem to like this as he called a clock on me after about 1 minute after that). It was a scary board which was flushing and str8ing, I bet the pot on the turn (roughly 1/3 of my stack at the time) with nothing! Paul Zimbler and Ian Woodley were in the pot and I could see Paul KNEW what i was at, but with Ian to act after him could only fold. Ian took an eternity and flat called - I had him on the flush draw now. Well the river was a blank and Ian checked. I riffled my remianing chips for about 2 minutes, then pushed them in the middle. Ian took about 4 minutes to pass and the pot was mine. I showed the bluff, Ace high. I am SURE Ian had nut flush draw with a pair also.
Another point worth a mention (there are plenty of others, but its like when you watch a comedian, and cant stop laughing all the way through, you come to the end and cannot remember much). An older gentleman came to our table (his name escapes me) with quite alot of chips and proceeded to say "at the break I only had 3000 chips, now I have all these) Paul Zimbler replied with "It wont take you long to give them to me" which the old guy replied "I will outlast you here",,, this was when Simon chipped in and said "maybe, but he will live ALOT longer than you!!!" Well I just couldnt stop laughing, nor could the rest of the table. This was followed by alot of "turn your hearing aid up" and "hurry up and pass before you die".
Paul Parker was badgering EVERYONE at EVERY oppotunity (MAN CAN HE TALK!!!!!) but it wasnt annoying, it was VERY funny. When anyone raised and got re raised, Paul would say "If you move all in here you will take this pot, he doesnt have a hand. Are you gonna let him get away with that?" etc.....
Well, I managed to get to within half an hour of the break for the night, still with 10,000 I had had no cards all night and found JJ in late position. I raised Paul Zimbler and Simons Blinds (not for the first time IMO taking them then showing 8 9 and 10 7), this time Paul re raised me all in. I thought for a while, had he had enough of me raising his blinds and was making a stand? or did he actually have a hand? Well I went for the first, with the hope he had AK if any hand. All in then and Paul truns over KK and I was out.
Disapointed as always to go out, but what a game!!!!!
Paul Zimbler went on to come close the next day, but was viciously outdrawn. Simon fell to Paul Zimbler (QQ vs AK) and Paul Parker went on to make final table, where in chip lead and involved for a HUGE pot which I think would of seen him go onto win that tourney , suffered an outdraw when holding AA - he did manage to talk them all into a 5 way split though. WD
All in all a VERY enjoyable comp, to me, THIS is what poker is all about. TOP GUYS!!!

Adventures at Luton so far.............

2006-01-20T10:37:00.000-08:00

Well the Omaha £200 was a one rebuy and one add on tourney with 5000 starting chips.

Got off to a good start by doubling up early on holding AK hearts 78 o/s

Flop 10 J 2 Two hearts - all in on the turn (blank) and 10 harts hit the river. So I didnt need the rebuy, but took the add on.

Was playing solid poker, nicking pots whenever I thought it was totally safe to do so. Had Citrone and Trumper on my table for a long while - was fun.

Well I was approaching 40k when I again had nut flush draw on the flop, and when the turn bought a second club (making two harts(my nut flush draw) and two clubs (i also had flush draw to the 10) I couldnt resist taking on a smaller stack who pushed in on the turn. They showed trips and I got no help. Infact they also had a club draw which was bigger then my 10 - so although I thought I was a big favorite, I actually had very few outs. That put me down to 15K and I fought my way back to 25k but couldnt get anything to happen.
Well I made the final table with 20k (short stacked, but with Sunny a huge chip leader with neally 160k, most of the rest were between 30k to 70k) so one double up and I was right back in it.
So in the early hours of the morning, off to the Hotel for some well deserved rest (as the night before I had been playing a sat for the WSOP on UB which didnt finish till gone 6am). Anyway, 7am came and I was awoken by the sound of workmen and their drills. This went on and off for the next 4 hours!!!!!
With little sleep, it was back to the casino for the final. Blinds were 1000 2000 and 3 rounds later, I was still on 20kish (18k i think) when I was BB with 10c 9c 4h 5h . Flop came 7c 8c 2c. So low stacked I couldnt get away from the large stack who bet 3k. Blank turn and again they bet 3k. Blank river and again they bet 3k and again i called. They had a Jack high flush - he also made 2 pr on the flop so I couldnt of pushed him off the pot. That left me so low when finding KK 2 8 it all went in - lost to a str8

So a 7th place finish - only my 2nd live omaha game, my first giving me a 9th place finish so 2 tourneys played in omaha and 2 final tables made.

Now I had alot of time to kill till the 750 double chance started later that evening so just sat around and dozed.

The comp started late and I was off to a yo yo start. from 5k up to 6 down to 4 up to 7 down to 3.5. I then had AK o/s in early position. 1st position posted a 3xBB raise which I called, so did 4 other people. Flop came Ace Ace Ace!!! How was i gonna get paid from this?? Well the origional raiser bets out 500 which I call. All the rest fold. Turn comes and the origional raiser sets me all in!! Happy days back to 7k. Managed to get to just under 10k when the 1st break came and the forced 5k add on so now on neally 15k and get moved tables.

New table was VERY aggressive, a skandie with 25k was raising every hand and betting every flop. Also there was Stuart Nash Ian woodley and Rob Young.
I found AJc in late position and made it 1600 (Blinds 200 400). Folded to Rob (BB) who flat calls. Flop comes J 7 4 rainbow with one club. Rob checks and I think a solid bet will take this pot, and bet out 3000. 2 minutes, Rob picks up his whole stack and goes all in (15k total). So with a pot of now neally 22k I am asked to commit my remaining 10k.
Thought process was he didnt have trips, maybe overpair, maybe 10 J (or something similar) or a total steel.
Now being so tired, after 5 minutes I decided to call. I was either going to have 33k early on, or I was going home for a well needed sleep. Sure enough he had QQ . The turn gave me some more hope as it was a club, but the river was a blank and out I went.
So I blew 15k with AJ on top pair top kicker with blinds 200 400 - BADDDDD!!!
My only conselation is that I KNOW had I not been so tired, I would of passed that hand within a few seconds.
So, the main event to come on Saturday - I will be FULLY focused and on top of my Game, just need the form to come good for it.................................

Luton Grand Challenge Next Week!!

2006-01-13T09:03:00.000-08:00

Well, I have had several comments as to "when are you going to update your blog" - shock to me as I didnt think many people read it!!!

I must admit to have been very lazy in this department.

Live poker since my last post,,,, played the £200 omaha at Luton Xmas Fessie and made Final table, only to go out 9th. Also won a STT for the main event as well. Made the second day (last 2 tables) but low stacked and couldnt double up.

As for online, I have now written an excel spreadsheet to keep track of my online game. It has a seperate page for each site I play on (4 mainly now : Blue Square, Ultimate Bet, Ladbrokes and Poker Stars). Each sheet keeps a day to day record of all my online poker, keeping each seperate (ie MTT's STT's and Cash - omaha/no limit etc).
Definately helps me to see exactly which parts of my game pay off and on which site.
Lads is a defo fav at the moment for No Limit (although small stakes of $2 $4 am making a good profit) Blue Square for Omaha P/L(mainly $5 $10). I am dabbling in UB's cash games at the moment with some success but it is alot slower. As for Poker Stars, not tried there yet for Cash.
Tournament play has also been good over the last month or so giving me a quadrupled bankroll over a 2 month period. Long may it continue!!

Notable MTT successes lately include winning the $99 rebuy on Blue Sqaure twice in a month (together with other final table finishes) winning the $12k on Blue Sqaure (together with other final table finishes) Making 7 final tables in the $12k on Lads best 2nd still no win there yet. Also making Final table in the $300 on Lads coming 3rd - was C/L and had AA and KK cracked within 4 hands to go out. Ultimate Bet MTT final table's - again best 3rd. Poker Stars $500k finished 90th going out with 10 10 to A Q for huge pot, but over 3700 runners so not too shabby.

As mentioned, my new site is Ultimate Bet - THE BEST structure for MTT's by the way. $100 f/o with 180 runners start with 2500 stack and 15 minute blinds. Doesnt sound that good does it? But when you realise that the blinds start at 10 20, then 20 40, then 30 60 and so on, it is easy to see why they have the best structure. 2 1/2 hours into a tourney and the blinds are just 100 200. PLENTY OF PLAY!!

This Sunday is a $500 entry MTT on UB with $1m guaranteed prize pool! ALso ALL final tablers will get a $12k WSOP package! I have qualified for this via a $30 MTT feeder (which I won) So Sunday could be a good day!!!

Well thats about it for now. Luton Grand Challenge next week where I will be playing the £200 omaha (with one rebuy and one add on), the £750 double chance and the £1000 main event. With Luton being a good hunting ground for me, I am expecting cash finishes there. Hopefully a win as well.

Till then,,,,,,,,,,,,

Slovenia Heads Up - Part 2

2005-12-06T06:28:00.000-08:00

With the "cold deck" in the heads up I decided to check out the cash games. They were only playing 10 20 limit. I watched for a bit and saw the standard was very fishy to say the least and sat down with 500 euro's.
That soon disapeared with a number of outdraws so I got out another 500 euros - which went the very same way!!!
I tried another 500 euros and managed to leave with about 900 - so a loss of 600 overall.

Next day was the 1000euro main event . This was a double chance freezeout and had around 70 runners. I really fancied my chances in this one and got off to a decent start. I was always above average chips when down to the last 21 I played AK in first position :

I limp. Mid position raises 4xBB. All fold to me. Now this guy had been VERY aggressive and had made this raise many times and then moved "all in" on the flop on a number of different flops. So I called ( with the mindset of folding if I didnt hit A or K)
Well the flop came A 2 7 - now I knew he wouldnt call my bet, so I decided to let him make his "all in" move. Which he did and I called in an instant. He had me outchipped by a few 1000. This pot was now more than enough to see me onto the final table.
He turns over JJ
Turn card then came a J (out of "form" again)

Disapointed but still in good spirits I went to the cash tables. They had a 5 5 p/l holdem game. So I sat down with 1000 euros. A few pots lost saw me down to 800 when a new player came and joined.

He was in 2nd position and after a limp in first position he raised the pot, which was called by 2 others. I look down and find QQ and re raise the pot. 1st limper folds , the new guy calls me and the other 2 fold.

Flop comes 4 5 Q (diff suits), to my suprise the new guy bets the pot. By this time the pot was big and I put him on KK. So i re raised the pot (which was practically all in) and he called. As in all cash games, the cards are not shown until the river is out.

Well the turn came an 8 and the river a 10.

I think I am infornt until he turns over 6 7 o/s. This was the end of poker for me that day, I didnt feel in the right frame of mind to continue.

Next day was a 200 euro p/l omaha rebuy. Again had around 50 runners. I was on a fairly quiet table with few rebuys. The table next to me was mad!! Neally all in every hand. Needless to say most of these guys on that table got chipped up.

Iknew I was in for a struggle and managed my shortstack well, even doubling up to a just below average stack when we got moved down to 2 tables.

16 left and I needed to find a few hands. Then this happened :

I am SB , Scot fishman is BB. (I have around 13xBB left)
5 limpers!!!! so I cant pass up the value and limp as well with 3 4 6 6
Scot Fishman checks the Big blind.
Flop comes K 4 6 (2 spades and a heart, I have no spades)
I decide to kill this pot quickly and announce "pot" - Scot Fishman then re raises pot. All fold to me and in go my chips. I say to Scott "this could be a bad move" he replies "I am sure you have outs".
He turns over J 7 4 4 (no spades but with 2 hearts)
So I now have his quads covered and am in real good shape to trebble up (almost) and again go on to final table with a decent stack.
But no, that "form" let me down again :( Turn Heart River Heart and I loose to runner runner flush.
I couldnt believe it, but shook Scots hand and said Good luck. He replied "strange pot, you were VERY unlucky and if someone had raised preflop we would of both folded"

So to sum up, "form" must come good soon. I played well and have no regrets about any hands. Indeed the 3 hands that I have mentioned here, I couldnt of played them any better I think.
Slovenia was not good for money wise, but met some good people and enjoyed the poker.
A special mention to Derek (Old King Cole) who was a true gent and great company. Derek had 2 final table appearances so well done Derek!!

Thats it for the Slovenia report, next event is the Luton Xmas Cracker. I am playing the £2000 omaha and the £500 double chance. Not sure about the £750 main event yet.

Lets hope that I can get a little "form" here

Report to follow..........

Slovenia Heads Up - Part 1

2005-12-06T06:14:00.000-08:00

Qualified for this one online with VC - but wish I hadn't for a few reasons :
1) Clashed with St Kitts
2) Clashed with Midland Masters
3) Only 19 people turned up for the event!!!!!!!!!!!

Point 3 was a sore one. I mean, only 19 people (max 64). Respect to Jon Shoreman for trying his best to organise these events. Hopefully Paris will be a better success.

Not many named faces here, Tripple P, Rob Hollink, Jon Shoreman (obviously) and Scott Fishman & Co.

I knew they were gonna be mad, just before the draw for the heads up, Rob, Scott & Co were "flipping coins" for 50euro a throw - MAD!! lol

Well there had to be 6 players play a prelim round - which I avoided - so at least I was in Round 2 (one better than Barcelona!!)

The Prelims started at around 6.30ish and I was told my match would DEFINATELY be played that night. My opponent was either Derek (OldKingCole) or some Italian Guy. I decided to watch this one and see if I could pick up on their style of play. Well 2 hours later and they were about even in chips when they broke for dinner. 9pm restart. They went deep into level 4 (the last level) and was around 11pm when Derek finally went out, having previously been all in with a comanding chip lead with 66 only to find the Italian Guy with a BIG PAIR.

So my match started around 11ish. By this time I had been there 7 hours and was keen to play.

The Italian guy was fairly solid, but with some moves here and there.

I didnt have the best of starts, with a full house being beaten by a better full house, but recovered well to evenish in chips, then my "form" let me down.

Blinds were 300 600 , I was the BB and had 4c 6c. He min raised so i called. At this point I had him on a BIG PAIR.

Flop came 4 4 7. BINGO!! (I thought) and checked.

He bet out 1200, so I min raised him and he called after some strange looks.

Turn Card 8. Again I check, this time he bets 3200. I quickly announce "raise" pushed in my 3200 and sat for a while. He again looked puzzled and I was convinced he had AA KK QQ etc and wouldnt lay it down and pushed all in.

He took 5 minutes to decide, and the longer he took, the more convinced I was that He had AA. Eventually he called. First card he turned over was an Ace (i got that warm feeling in my stomache) but then he turned over a 4!! (I felt sick)
Quickly realised that I could win with a 6 or a 5, and tie with a 7 or an 8. Sadly it was a 10 and I was out.

Continued..................

Inbetween Dublin and Slovenia

2005-11-08T01:19:00.000-08:00

I decided to go to Sheffield to play the main event of the festival, a £750 double chance freezeout.

Started really well, and continued to mass chips. Upto 32k.
Then things went wrong, my big pairs were being beaten by better hands, also my steal attempts were not working and I got down to 15K (around 12xbb) and I was SB. All fold to me and I have pok 10's.

I decided this was the correct time to get clever and try and double up on my opponent in the BB who was a "tad aggressive" shall we say.

I limped in, knowing that he would raise to approx 4k to play. Sure enough he did, and I went over the top all in. They called. Trouble was, they had JJ and out I went.

Again, no regrets about the play.

The only other thing I would say on this comp is the way certain people conducted themselves.
Now I know i do not like to rush any decisions involving a good proportion of my stack, but this is methodiacal thinking , back tracking the hand in my head and trying to deduce weather I am beat or not. Now to some this could seem to be slow playing, but I can assure you it isnt!

It also doesnt happen too often, just when it is for a large portion of my stack.
I also feel that if people think it is too long, they are MORE than entitled to call the clock on me - this I dont mind either, and why would I?

Well there was one hand when I hit top pair (J) and K kicker on the flop. The guy bet and I called, he then immediately goes all in on the turn (which was a rag) - no flush draw, but there was a str8 draw.

Now I probably took 2 minutes to decide what to do (it was for 20-25% of my stack to call). During which time John Falkner called the clock on me - fair enough. Eventually I passed the hand and they showed me AJ.

The thing which annoyed me (although I didnt let it show) was that Simon Nowab came over to chat to John Falkner while we were playing (as I understand it, spectators were not allowed, so what was he doing there in the first place?!?), and commented to John Falkner "oh no, not him, if he takes longer than 30 seconds, put the clock on him" - pointing to me.

Now maybe this was ment in jest I dont know, and frankly doesnt matter. It was an unnecessary comment while our game was in progress and in my view should not have been made. Now if Simon Nowab was playing at our table, he could of made that comment as I know table talk is part of the game, but table talk from a spectator?!?

This did not affect my game, as I have made that mistake before.

Ok rant over,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,

EPT Dublin

2005-11-07T07:46:00.000-08:00

Well the trip started well. NOT!!

Got stuck on the M11 to stanstead for over an hour, and thought I was gonna miss my flight. I rushed through the check in, ran to the gate, onlt to be told the flight had been delayed. Phew, I thought, at least I didnt miss the flight.

Well, 5 hours later,, yes 5 HOURS!!!!!!!! , we took off!!

I got to my Hotel at around 11.30pm and the checkin desk said there was a problem with my booking and I would have to go to another Hotel. This was the last straw to a terrible journey. I had booked this hotel as it was the only one I could find with Wifi in the rooms. The hotel they wanted to move me to didnt have ANY wifi!! I kicked up such a fuss, that they said I could stay in a double room for tonight, and they would find me alternative accomodation in the morning.

So I unpacked and headed to the casino for a look around. Didnt play poker, like i said, just went to look around.

Had a good nights sleep and woke up around 9.30. Went for breakfast (Full Irish breakfast,,,,,,, no different to a full english lol). I then showered and got dressed to go to the Casino for a buffet lunch before the main event. On my way out I informed reception that I would not be back until the early hours of the morning and they said I could stay in the double room for my entire stay at no extra charge - things were looking up!!

Well the buffet lunch was ok, but it was free.

Got drawn upstairs, and when I say upstairs, i mean RIGHT upstairs!! 5th floor!!
To those who have never been to The Merrion in Dublin, it is a House (a 5 story house)

It made the 15 minute breaks interesting! I mean, 200 odd people going down 5 flights of stairs and out to the "tent" to have a ciggie! THEN up 5 flights of stairs again - I needed a break AFTER the break! lol

Well not alot happened in the first couple of levels, except on my table, there were two "nutters" (i dont know how else to describe them) they were HUGELY overbetting pots and then showing a complete bluff (ie 7 3 o/s etc...) I knew they would clash. Sure enough they did. One of them had 11k and the other had 16K and it went something like "raise" "reraise" "re rerasie" "allin" "call".
One had QQ the other had a monster A10s!! Well the inevitable happened and the Ace hit the board. The person who had QQ was on 16k so now he was down to 5k and was steaming!!!

He was all in EVERY hand preflop (blinds were only 100 200) and he managed to get up to 7900 when this happened :

I was BB, there was one limper, then the nutter with 7900 also limped (i found this strange as I have said he was all in preflop every hand prior to this). There was also another limper and the SB folds.

So now 900 in the pot and I look down and find QQ. I am not convinced that the nutter DIDNT have Aces, so I decided to check.

Flop came 9 7 4 rainbow. and I checked.
The first limper threw his cards in (no idea why!!!)
Then this nutter went "all in"
It was folded round to me.
So now I was faced with the decision of risking my whole tourney on QQ into an unraised pot preflop.
I didnt know where I was, and decided to fold. SHOWING my queens.
The table went mad saying "how can you fold queens there!" well I had my reasons but was about to educate the rest of the table.
Well the nutter showed Q9 so I was in great shape, but I still think I made the correct decision to fold.

Still didnt see many hands and was moved downstairs late on (approx 60 left) and I was down to 5600 chips. Blinds were 400 800.
All i wanted was an oppotunity to steal some blinds or double up. Well I picked up K 10 hearts on the button and with 2 limpers infront of me , I decided this was a good oppotunity to pick up that pot there and then. So i moved all in.

The small blind passes, but the BB ALSO announces "all in" they had around 35k in chips so it gave me protection. So heads up!!

He turns over AJ, i dont mind those odds till I realised he had AJ hearts, so my flush draw was covered. Anyway a 10 hit the board and I took down a nice pot (neally trebbled up).

Also managed to gain even more chips, but was becoming harder as Luca (who was at my table) had around 22k chips and was allin whenever he could.
Well it was around 45 minutes till we broke for the day, I was BB. One limper and Luca says "allin" (for about the 12th time in the last hour). I looked down and find JJ.
I am convinced I am ahead, or at least 50 50 at worst. The blinds were 600 1200 and I had around 20k. Luca had 25k.
I decided to gamble and call, if i won that pot I was nicely setup for day 2.
He turns over 99 , but hits a 9 and I was out.
Yet another correct decision, I feel , so yes disapointed, but again pleased with how I played.

The next day I discovered that Luca had gone out early the 2nd day with AA vs KK when a K hit the flop - Sorry, but I had to smile (to myself of course)

I also played the 150 rebuy event, didnt have a rebuy but topped up. I went deep in this as well when UTG (Roy the Boy) raised 4xBB. I am next to act and getting short find JJ. Again I am convinced I am ahead of Roy, and decide to gamble that the people after me didnt have QQ KK or AA and announced all in. (was about 14xBB)

I got 2 callers, and roy the boy folded. The two callers BOTH had AK!! I am in great shape once again for a HUGE pot.
Flop rags, turn rags, river King and I was out.
Again no regrets about the move I made. I still cannot believe the 2nd caller with AK though - crazy play.

I also tried my hand at Live Omaha (been playing on the net with some success) and did ok, I made a few euro's, just couldnt string those big pots together, I would win one, then loose one.

All in all a great experience which I thoroughly enjoyed.

Oh, btw, was that room with the wifi worth it?!?!? HELL YEAH!! On the 2nd night, on my return from the Casino, I played $2 $4 p/l Omaha.
6 hands in i get A5 suited A6 suited.
Raised pot and got 4 callers.
Flop comes 3 4 k (two to my suit), again I raise pot and get 3 callers.
Turn card comes rag but now I have BOTH nut flush draws and open ended str8
This time, I check hoping for one of them to bet. Which they did so I re raised all in ($400) and they ALL called!!!!
River bought me the nut flush!! A nice $1500 profit for 10 minutes work.

Hope you enjoyed my report.

Slovenia next..............

Online Game

2005-10-20T09:31:00.000-07:00

My online game has not been upto scratch, till this month anyway.

I took 1st place in the $7.5k on VC (a tourney I used to F/T on alot) ($3740)
I also took 5th in the £35k on Will Hill (£2000)
And around 8 other F/T placings (approx $3000)
Also won my seat to Slovenia Heads up at the end of Nov. ($4500)
Also won my seat to the EPT event Dublin next week end. ($6000)

Reports to follow................

£500 main event at Brighton

2005-10-20T09:13:00.000-07:00

Decided to give this one a bash, having missed out on qualifying for the Grosvener Grand Prix.

Drawn my seat and was upstairs.
It was a double chance freezeout, 4000 chips to start and 4000 in arrears.
A few people at my table took the extra 4000 at the start, but i decided to wait a while.
3rd hand into the comp and one of the guys who had got his extra 4000 at the start makes it 200 to play, all folded to another guy who also took his 4000 at the start, re raised to 600. Then the origional raiser makes it 1000 to go and is called.
Flop came J high with 2 clubs.
Origional raiser makes it 1000 to play, the re raiser announces "all in" and is called VERY quickly.
Set over Set me thinks??? But no, the guy who went all in had Ac Kc (nut flush draw) so I can sort of understand his play, but the guy who called in a flash turns over pocket Aces.
In my opinion, this was NOT an automatic call, and I would of probably passed here.
Anyway, the Aces held up and we had lost one already.
My table was a strange one. You could not make any moves as they were calling large bets (on any street) with middle pair. So it was a question of waiting to hit that hand and get paid off.
Well i had 2 hands that got paid off and after 4 hours, got moved - I hate getting moved as I had a REAL good read on the players.
Anyway, the table I went to had the c/l on and Dave C (chipped up as well) - At this point we were down to 5 tables.
Dave C was being his usual aggressive self, raising MOST pots before the flop and taking most of them down post flop. On one occasion, the chip leader took offence and re raised Dave C all in preflop. Dave sat there and said "do i want to gamble?" "ok" he said and called. He flips over 99 vs AK. His 99 held up and he became the new c/l.
Shortly after this the table broke and now down to 4 tables. Mark Bannin was on my table and so was a mountain of chips.
I had 28k with blinds 800 1600 so was sitting ok.
One aggressor was raising my BB ALL the time and I decided to call just to see what he did. At this point I am down to 16000 after calling his raise.
Flop comes rags , i check and so does he.
Turn comes Q, i think about betting, but decide to check, as does he
Then the river bought a str8 card. a 6 would make the straight. So i looked at my cards, looked at the board, then bet 6000 (picked 6000 for a reason!!) he floded. BTW I had K high. Nice pot.
From there i got AA in first position and decided to min raise. BB calls. Flop came QQ rag. He checked, so did I. Turn = rag, he checked so i made a pot size bet and took it down - showed the AA.
About 20 minutes later I find AA in first position again and this time decided to go all in for 32k (blinds now 1500 3000). Got one caller who was up out of his seat waving his cards around. He had KK. So i showed my AA.
At this point is where I got annoyed, he starts shouting for a King over and over again. Sure enough the flop bought that dreded King - HE WENT MENTAL!! Banging the table and shouting "yes" over and over again. I just sat there quietly, the turn bought the 4th king and that was the end of me. That one hand would of put me on 65k with 24 left (The average on F/T would of been 80k)
GET IT QUIETLY MAN!!!!!!!!!!!!! (No etiquete some people)

Just one more thing to mention, that last table was a "bad beat" table, as I saw pok 4's beat AA by spiking a 4 on the river. Then the same guy took his pok 6's vs 10 10 home by spiking a 6 on the river. Also 88 cracked AA.

I feel I played VERY solid in this tourney and felt good about actually winning it - then the poker gods interviened with those Kings on the flop. But all in all, very happy with how i played